Game 5 Preview: Islanders at Hurricanes

NEW YORK ISLANDERS AT CAROLINA HURRICANES

GAME 5 | CAR LEADS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 3-1

7:30 PM | PNC ARENA

WATCH: MSGSN, MSG+, MAX, TBS

LISTEN: 88.7FM, 103.9FM, ESPN RADIO

The New York Islanders will look to keep their season alive when they face the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Tuesday for Game Five of their First Round series. The Islanders currently trail their best-of-seven series three games to one.

The Islanders staved off elimination with a 3-2 double-OT victory on Saturday night at UBS Arena. Mathew Barzal netted two goals, including the double-OT winner, and JG Pageau scored a power-play goal while Semyon Varlamov made 42 saves. 

While the stakes are still high with the Islanders playing for their season, Head Coach Patrick Roy pointed out how his team is acclimated to playing in high-pressure situations – as they’ve been resilient all year. 

“We had our backs against the wall for a long time if you think about it, because we've made the playoffs by three points. It's not something new for this group," Roy said. "But it's this that's why I'm so proud of them because of how resilient they are and how hard they've been working, and how they want to keep going."

The Islanders were in the same spot last season, headed to Raleigh for Game 5 and facing elimination. They pulled out a 3-2 victory to force Game 6 last year, and they’re hoping to grind out a similar result to bring the series back to Long Island.  

“Now, this is déjà vu for them,” Roy said. “Last year, they were down 3-1 [in the series] and they went to Carolina and won the game. Hope we can repeat that.”

LINEUP NEWS FOR GAME FIVE

Semyon Varlamov will start between the pipes on Tuesday night for Game 5. He started in three of the four games of the series and made a relief appearance in Game 3, sporting a .930 SV% and allowing eight goals in the series against the Hurricanes.

Matt Martin (day to day, lower-body) will miss his second consecutive game. Roy confirmed that Simon Holmstrom will draw in on a line with Kyle MacLean anf Cal Clutterbuck. Holmstrom missed games Games 3 and 4 as a healthy scratch.

"I want him to be good on his one-on-one battles, awareness with with puck and make good decisions with it," Roy said. "Basically play a simple game."

ISLANDERS NOTES AND FIRSTS

- Roy earned his first playoff win as Islanders head coach on Saturday.

- Robert Bortuzzo picked up his first point as an Islander in his 27th game with the team (regular season and playoffs).

- Ruslan Iskhakov played in his first playoff game on Saturday, thrust into playoff action after he played just one NHL game on Apr. 17 against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Isles regular season finale. The 23-year-old winger skated 5:58 TOI and recorded a blocked shot. He skated on a line with Cal Clutterbuck and current and former teammate in Bridgeport, Kyle MacLean.

- JG Pageau netted his first playoff goal since June 5, 2021. The tally also marked the first third period goal of the series against the Canes. Pageau won 19-of-23 faceoffs in the game as well, including eight-of-nine against Jordan Staal.

- Anders Lee’s four-game point streak marks a career-long in the postseason. He recorded two three-game point streaks in the 2020 playoff run and had a three-game point streak in 2019.

- Per Islanders statistician Eric Hornick, Semyon Varlamov is the first goaltender in NHL history to play and win a playoff game on his birthday. The netminder turned 36 and made 42 saves on Saturday.

HURRICANES NEWS AND NOTES

- Rod Brind’Amour tweaked three of his lines during Monday’s practice.

Notably Teuvo Teravainen is joining Jordan Staal and Seth Jarvis on a line. Jesperi Kotkaniemi will shift from center to wing on a new line with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Stefen Noesen. Jack Drury appears to be centering Jordan Martinook and Martin Necas. The Hurricanes top line of Jake Guentzel, Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov remained intact.

- Guentzel is riding a three-game point streak with four points over that span. Per Isles PR, Guentzel is one of 15 active NHLers with at least a point-per-game average in the playoffs with 62 points in 62 games.

- While unconfirmed Frederik Andersen is expected to start a fifth straight game. Andersen is 3-1 in the series and has only allowed nine goals over that span. The Hurricanes are not holding a morning skate, so confirmation will come closer to puck drop.