3 Takeaways: Islanders Season Ends with 6-3 Loss to Hurricanes

The New York Islanders saw their season come to an end on Tuesday night in Raleigh, falling 6-3 in Game 5 to the Carolina Hurricanes, losing their series four games to one.

Mike Reilly (PPG), Brock Nelson and Casey Cizikas scored to make it a three-all game in th second period, but it came crashing down when the Hurricanes struck twice in the span of eight seconds and later sealed the deal with an empty netter in the third. Carolina ended the Islanders’ season for the third time in six years, but the five matchups in this year’s playoffs were tightly contested through and through. Head Coach Patrick Roy was proud of his group for putting up a fight and hanging with the Hurricanes until the very end.

“I just feel like we deserved better,” Roy said. “I'm not saying we should have won this series, but I'm saying that we could go home right now and play game number six easily. Instead, it’s over. It feels empty in a way that I thought that we did a lot better than what we got in return.”

Roy has been abundantly proud of his group for their tenacity – down the stretch, in the series, and in the intense battle on Tuesday night.

"I am very proud of this group because they are resilient," Roy said. "Tonight they showed it. That's how they were all year. It would have been easy to pack in and that's not what we did. We kept pushing and trying to find a way."

For a tight-knit group that had to fight tooth and nail to make it to the playoffs, it was a bitter defeat , but the resilience on display all season showed a lot of character.  

"Just to get to the playoffs, had to put a lot of things together in a season where we were just fighting all year long,” Captain Anders Lee said. “I'm always proud of this group."

ISLES BATTLE HARD, BUT FALL IN GAME 5

The Islanders battled back from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits, knotting the score at three in the final minute of the middle frame, but saw their gutsy efforts come crashing down in the span of eight seconds of the third.

Alexander Romanov blocked a Brady Skjei shot, but the puck bounced over Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s  stick in a clearing attempt, and Jack Drury capitalized to give Carolina a 4-3 advantage. Eight seconds later, a Canes’ dump-in took a bad bounce off the boards catching Semyon Varlamov out of his crease where Stefan Noesen took advantage. It marked the second time in the series the Isles gave up two goals in under 10 seconds, as a similar situation happened at the end of Game 2.

"Tough way to lose a game like that," Lee said. "We were grinding back in a fight all night, we believed in what we were doing and that we're going to win this hockey game. Then those two bounces like that, it's tough to swallow."

The night got off to a tough start for the Isles, as anTeuvo Teravainen slung a shot from a sharp angle that bounced off Varlamov’s left shoulder and in just 1:23 into the contest. On the man advantage, Andrei Svechnikov doubled the Hurricanes lead with a shot that had an unlucky deflection off of Robert Bortuzzo’s stick and into the net.

Down 2-0, the Islanders sprung on the man advantage, as Mike Reilly’s long shot from the point beat Frederik Andersen 11 seconds into the power play to cut the deficit to 2-1, but the Canes regained the advantage with a Evgeny Kuznetsov's penalty shot goal.

After a period where the Islanders were outshot 21-4 and found themselves down 3-1 after the opening 20 minutes, the Islanders were settled in the second period. Brock Nelson ripped a shot in the slot that deflected off Jalen Chatfield’s stick and went five hole on Anderson to make it a one-goal game.

The Isles seemingly caught a rare break, as Andersen slipped in his crease leaving Cizikas with an open ice in the slot. He didn’t hesitate to deposit the puck for the equalizer with 22 seconds left in the second.

The hope evaporated in the span of eight seconds, and Seth Jarvis buried the empty netter at 18:21, but there was a lot of pride and character in the locker room for never giving up through the ups and downs of the season.

"It was a bumpy ride," Kyle Palmieri said. "But realistically, we battled, made our way into the playoffs and had a chance to win the Stanley Cup. I'm proud of everyone in here."

SPECIAL TEAMS IMPACT SERIES

While the Hurricanes have had the Isles number in the past three postseason meetings, the series was a close one at five-on-five. Heading into Game 5, both teams were deadlocked at six five-on-five goals apiece and Carolina’s 9-8 advantage at the series end came via the bad bounce off the boards.

It was tight-checking, hard hockey on both sides at even strength, but Carolina’s special teams had an overarching impact on the series.

The Hurricanes scored five power-play goals in five games and also had a penalty shot goal to boot on Tuesday. They lived up to their billing as the NHL’s second-ranked power play during the regular season.

To their credit, the Islanders were opportunistic on their own chances on the power play, putting three past the NHL’s top-ranked penalty kill in 11 opportunities.

THANK YOU

That’ll do it for the 2023-24 season. It’s been a rollercoaster year, but we appreciate you riding it with us at NewYorkIslanders.com. 

Thanks for reading the site, listening to our podcasts, watching videos, following on social media, hanging at watch parties, community events, cheering at UBS Arena and so much more. None of this would be possible without your love, passion and dedication from the team.

There’s plenty more where that came from - stay tuned this summer for the draft, free agency and much, much more.