3 Takeaways: Islanders Season Ends with 2-1 OT Loss to Hurricanes

The New York Islanders season ended on Friday night, as they fell 2-1 in overtime to the Carolina Hurricanes in their First Round series. The Hurricanes won the series in six games, ending the Isles playoff run for the second time in five years.
It was a somber and abrupt end on Paul Stastny's OT winner from the side of the net at 6:00 of OT, closing the book on what was a scrappy, up-and-down season that saw the Islanders fight their way to a playoff spot.

"It's tough, you don't prepare for this really," Captain Anders Lee said. "We believed in this room, believed in one another and the character we had. I know it was a tough task at hand, but there was never a doubt in anyone's mind that we were capable of completing it. It's just kind of difficult to process."
The Hurricanes have been a tough matchup for the Islanders over the past five seasons, but the Isles went toe-to-toe with the Metropolitan Division leaders. Two of the six games were decided by overtime, and the final goal differential in the tight-checking series was 16-15 Islanders.
"Maybe it wasn't pretty all season, but at the end of the day, we came together and we found a way and we give ourselves a really good chance in this series," Ryan Pulock said. "That's a great team over there too, with a lot of playoff experience, and we just came up short."

THE GAME ITSELF:

It was a tale of two games for the Islanders.
The Islanders came out with plenty of purpose in front of a revved up UBS Arena, taking a 1-0 lead off a Cal Clutterbuck wrister at the 9:21 mark of the opening period after the Isles caught the Hurricanes on a poorly-timed and slow change. The Islanders peppered Frederik Andersen, who was making his series debut after missing the first few games with an injury and the most recent contest as a backup to Antti Raanta.
Through two periods, the Isles outshot the Hurricanes 28-19 and held a 10-8 advantage in terms of high danger chances at five-on-five, but could not build on their one-goal lead.
"In the second one were really swarming and we just couldn't get that insurance goal and ultimately that was the one that cost us," Matt Martin said. "They came out hard in the third and we just didn't do enough to get a win."
Not building on the lead proved costly as the Hurricanes surged in the third period, outshooting the Islanders 19-5, while holding a 9-0 advantage in terms of high danger chances. It felt like a matter of time until the Hurricanes tied it and they did so on Sebastian Aho's fourth-goal of the series at 9:24. A bouncing puck in front of the net was gloved down by the Hurricanes forward and swatted in.
Ilya Sorokin kept the Islanders in the game in the third period, coming up with big saves on Seth Jarvis and Jesse Puljujarvi in tight as well as a litany of deflections, including a quality save on Jordan Martinook. Sorokin stopped 18 shots in the third to get the game to overtime and finished the game with 39 saves on 41 shots. Andersen, to his credit, stopped 35.
In the extra frame, Adam Pelech fanned on a clearing attempt that was intercepted by Derek Stepan and funneled down to Paul Stastny who snuck a sharp-angled shot through Sorokin.

ISLES STICK TOGETHER AFTER LOSS:

The Islanders immediately consoled their goaltender following Friday's loss, giving Sorokin a few extra hugs and head taps while the Hurricanes swarmed Stastny. Alexander Romanov was seen talking to Sorokin for an extended period as the Russians embraced.
While the goal was an uncharacteristic one for Sorokin, who will likely be a Vezina Trophy finalist, the Islanders to a man stood by their goaltender, acknowledging they likely wouldn't be in the situation without him.
GM 6: CANES 2, ISLES 1 OT
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"He was spectacular for us all season and all playoffs," Pulock said. "There's so much more to it than that. We'll stick together in this room. Everyone has each other's backs here and it's going sting for everyone. Well find a way out of it and find a way to get our minds right for next year."
That was a common refrain in the room following Friday's loss.
"The goalies... we wouldn't be here without them," Scott Mayfield said. "They know that. They know how special they are. Now this group was so close with each other. Sorokin is a world-class, all-star goalie. He should be right up there in all the MVP talks, how important he is to our team and what he's been able to do. Just a special player."
A lot of these Islanders have been together for a long time and they have a close-knit room, even for players who have arrived recently like Zach Parise, Kyle Palmieri, Hudson Fasching and Bo Horvat. Going 19-9-4 and making the playoffs in Game 82 tends to bring a team together.
"It was a fight right to the end," Horvat said. "This is a special group, I'm sure a lot of guys have said that. I'm proud to be here. I'm proud to be New York Islander."
"Guys need to walk out of here with their heads held high," Martin said. "We put a lot of work into get here and battled adversity throughout the year. We had some key guys out of the lineup and I'm still proud of the group and know how far we came this year. At the same time it hurts, it hurts bad and we'll sit on this one for a little while and then get ready for next season."

THANK YOU:

That's a wrap on the 2022-23 season, personally my 11th with the team. Thanks for reading the site, listening the podcast and the radio hits, chatting in airports and on plane rides and for cheering at UBS Arena. None of this is possible without you and your love for the team. Special thanks as well to Rachel Luscher and Gaby Carroll for all of their contributions and coverage on NewYorkIslanders.com, as well as the entire social, video and radio teams for all of the great work all season, for the companionship and for waiting for me late after games. It's a long season, but always a lot of fun with the Islanders crew.
We'll have content all offseason, especially around the draft and free agency, so stay tuned.