4.27.23 Notebook

ELMONT, NY. -After the New York Islanders lived to see another day with
Tuesday's Game 5 win
, a second and final trip to Long Island became necessary for the Carolina Hurricanes.
Using Wednesday as a day to rest and recover away from the rink, the group skated on Thursday at PNC Arena before taking off north.

Drury Skates, But Remains Unavailable

Missing Tuesday's Game 5 due to an upper-body injury suffered when he was boarded by Ryan Pulock in Sunday's Game 4, Jack Drury returned to practice in a yellow no-contact sweater this morning.
While it was a good sign, Rod Brind'Amour ruled out the possibility of him playing tomorrow.
Leaving them without an extra body up front, forward Vasily Ponomarev was tapped to accompany the team on their afternoon flight. The 21-year-old had been skating in Raleigh with the
"Black Aces" that were recalled last week
and looked on from the bench area as the group worked on home ice to start the day.
Producing 46 points in 64 games during his first full season in North America, Ponomarev impressed mightily at Canes' training camp in September before being assigned to the American Hockey League. A gifted playmaker with a knack for finding the back of the net, he finished second in scoring on the Wolves.

The Goaltending Situation

At today's practice, Frederik Andersen had a net largely to himself, catching some attention.
Could it mean something, or could it be nothing at all? Was it an effort to get the 33-year-old Dane a bulk of the workload, or was it to preserve Antti Raanta for a sixth consecutive start tomorrow?
Goaltending was a major storyline and question mark for Carolina prior to Game 1, but a pair of wins to start the series for Raanta, combined with an illness and upper-body injury to Andersen, removed all doubt that it was the Finn's crease to lose. Now, "Freddie" has not played yet in these playoffs, but returned to back up Antti Raanta in Game 5.
Raanta has been fine health-wise to this point, starting all five games of the series for Carolina, but how many consecutive starts are the coaching staff willing to extend the leash?
"There's a chance," Brind'Amour answered when asked if there's a possibility of seeing Andersen in between the pipes Friday at UBS Arena. Referencing how there was no chance earlier in the series due to his ailments, the head coach said "he's definitely right there" of Andersen's availability.
Should the group stick with Raanta, tomorrow would be the sixth start in a row for the veteran Finn, a stretch he did not make in the regular season. The last time he made six starts in 12 days was during last year's series against the Rangers, which ultimately concluded with a knee injury suffered in Game 7.
On the other hand, Andersen has yet to play in any of the Canes' 19 playoff games since joining the club, missing all of last year's postseason due to a knee injury suffered in April.
The group is not expected to hold a morning skate on Friday, so it looks like the answer to whose net it will be will remain a mystery until at least Friday afternoon.

Another Shot To Close It Out

The already injury-riddled group missed an opportunity to earn themselves nearly a week of rest by coming up short on Tuesday night. A pair of individual mistakes were the demise in the 3-2 defeat, necessitating another trip to UBS Arena.
The Metropolitan Division champions felt that they played well enough for 60 minutes to win the game, but to view the other side of the coin, New York didn't make any mistakes that would have made life easy for the Canes.
"It's the hardest one to win, the last one. You know they're playing with no tomorrow," Jordan Martinook offered of the mentality going into Game 6. "You know they're going to have their best game and we're going to have to bring everything we've got to try and close it out tomorrow."
One potential benefit from Carolina's perspective now though is that they've seen the Islanders' plan when their backs are against the wall. While there are few surprises left at this point of the best-of-seven series, teams do tend to have some differences in their game when they know it's a win-or-go-home game.
"They were playing simple and forcing it on us to make the mistakes. I think that was a good recipe for them," #48 continued when asked what he saw from the opposition in Game 5. "There's definitely things that we can do better that will give us a better chance."
Martinook was also quick to point out that he, along with his new-ish linemates Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Martin Necas, all believe they can be better.
"I felt like we could've been a lot better last game. All three of us know that and we expect a lot better out of each other. I think you'll see that tomorrow" the
Masterton Trophy nominee
wrapped up with.

4.27.23 Notebook Marty

Up Next

Game 6 will begin Friday night at 7 p.m. ET. The contest will be broadcast on Bally Sports South and TBS.
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