Game 4 Preview: Islanders vs Hurricanes

NEW YORK ISLANDERS VS CAROLINA HURRICANES

GAME 4 | CAR LEADS BEST OF SEVEN SERIES 3-0

2 PM | UBS ARENA | BUY TICKETS 

WATCH: MSGSN, MSG+, TBS, TRUTV, MAX

LISTEN: 88.7FM, 103.9FM, 1050AM

The New York Islanders will look to keep their season alive when they host the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4 of their First Round series on Saturday. The Isles currently trail 3-0.

The Islanders fell 3-2 in a tightly contested Game 3 on Thursday at UBS Arena. Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov scored in the first period while Sebastian Aho’s second period goal put the Hurricanes up 3-1 and held as the game-winner. Pierre Engvall and Brock Nelson scored but the Islanders weren’t able to find the equalizer despite a third period where the Isles outshot the Canes 11-3.

"It comes down to very small things throughout each game, and we've come up short three times now," Captain Anders Lee said. "Regardless of if we've played well, or if we haven't had a good night, there's another level that we need to get to."

The Islanders have a big hill to climb to get back into the series. Only four – of 206 – teams have rallied out of a 3-0 series deficit, but the Islanders are going with a one game at a time mentality, looking to pour their best effort into Saturday’s do-or-die contest, leaving them no choice but to embrace the challenge.

“We have such a resilient group here and everyone still believes that we can do this,” Bo Horvat said. “We should. We’ve proven it all year. Every time we’ve been counted out or down, we’ve found a way to overcome that. We have a great opportunity on Saturday, it starts with getting the win and going from there.

For the record, the Islanders are one of the four teams to execute a reverse sweep in league history, as they overcame a 3-0 deficit and won the series against the Penguins in the second round of the 1975 playoffs.

GENERATING MORE SHOTS 

Although the loss was tough to swallow, the Islanders improved in the key area of generating shots on net against a team notorious for their shoot-from-everywhere mentality.

Entering the postseason, the Isles had only outshot the Canes twice in the span of 20 games, including regular season and playoff action, but the Isles had the edge on shots in two of the three games of the series thus far. The Isles outshot the Canes 34-26 in Game 1 and 31-22 in Game 3 - both games which felt like missed opportunities.  

“I thought we could have won Game 1 and [Game 3],” Head Coach Patrick Roy said. “In Game Two, in the second half they took it away from us, but that's the playoffs. We've been resilient all year... I know we're going to come back with a big effort on Saturday. Unfortunately, we cannot look back. We need to look forward and try to make a comeback.”

A major factor in why the Isles haven’t been able to capitalize on opportunities in Games 1 and 3 is the solid play of Frederik Andersen. Though he allowed three goals on 12 shots in Game 2, the 34-year-old goaltender allowed three goals on 65 shots combined in the first and third game of the series. 

“We just have to keep peppering him with shots,” Bo Horvat said. “He’s such a big and positionally sound goaltender, I think if we can get him moving side to side and get a little more traffic in front of him so he can’t see it as much, will definitely help.”

LINEUP NEWS

Ruslan Iskhakov will make his NHL playoff debut, slotting in for Matt Martin, who is sidelined with a lower-body injury. 

Iskhakov, who was drafted in the second round of the 2018 NHL Draft (43rd overall) made has one NHL game on his resume. He drew into the lineup on Apr. 17 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, recording an assist in a 5-4 victory. 

Martin's absence ends a streak of 82 consecutive playoff appearances for the Islanders. He hasn't missed a postseason since 2007 (Game 5 of a First-Round series against the Buffalo Sabres). 

Patrick Roy confirmed that Semyon Varlamov will start between the pipes for Game 4 on Saturday. The netminder stopped all eight shots faced in relief on Thursday night after he started Games 1 and 2. Over the course of the first round, Varlamov allowed six goals and posted a .915 SV%.

ISLANDERS NOTES

Anders Lee leads the Islanders in points (1G, 2A) and is the only player in the series to have recorded a point in each game.

HURRICANES NOTES

Andrei Svechnikov recorded two points (2A) on Thursday to take the team lead of four points (all assists) in the postseason, while Sebastain Aho leads the Hurricanes with two goals.

On the injury front, Jesper Fast (upper-body) was ruled out for the postseason after he missed the first three games of the First Round, per Head Coach Rod Brind’Amour.

Carolina is also without Brett Pesce, who missed Game 3 after he sustained a lower-body injury of the second period in Game 2. Veteran defenseman Tony DeAngelo drew into the lineup on Thursday, recording three shots on goal in 15:15 TOI and skated in a pair with Brady Skjei.