A Hot Start & A Kuzy Crawl...
Returning to action after a two-day gap since Game 4, the Canes came ready to go with some noticeable jump.
On the game's very first shot, Teuvo Teravainen got his team started with a goal we hadn't yet seen in this series. Semyon Varlamov, making a fourth start in five games for the Isles, just missed an oncoming puck.
It was a routine-looking shot from the blocker side wall, yet the New York netminder just muffed his attempt to keep it out and just 83 seconds in Carolina had the advantage.
1:50 later it was 2-0.
On the power play, a streaking Andrei Svechnikov was in search of a middle lane-driving Sebastian Aho but instead caught the blade of Islanders defenseman Robert Bortuzzo. The puck changed directions off of his tape and got behind Varlamov, giving the Canes some early insurance.
However, as we've seen several times in the series, the trailing team pushed back.
The Islanders got a power play goal of their own 41 seconds later, keeping them within striking distance.
A fast and furious start, it took only 3:54 for the game's first three goals, but things settled down from there. Kind of.
As Andersen and Varlamov both got their footing more under them, amid another push for Carolina, play was whistled dead after an Islander closed his hand on the puck in the crease. Awarding the Canes a penalty shot, Evgeny Kuznetsov went to his patented crawl.
Getting New York's backstop to bite on a poke check, Varlamov missed and Carolina's trade deadline acquisition extended his team's lead back to two.
