The goalie was replaced by Curtis McElhinney at 6:27 of the second period with the Islanders leading 1-0. McElhinney made 17 saves.
"Pretty hard to come off the bench and not face any shots for a period or so, and for him to come in, that's huge," said forward Warren Foegele, who tied the game 1-1 for the Hurricanes 17 seconds into the third period. "Both our goalies this year have been unbelievable, and I'm not surprised to see McElhinney] play like that. Both goalies have been tremendous, and they've both been able to answer the bell, and it's not easy coming in sitting on the bench so long. Heck of a job by [McElhinney] coming in cold."
***[RELATED: [Complete Islanders vs. Hurricanes series coverage]*
Mrazek, who made nine saves before he was injured, was flexing his left leg for several minutes after making a save against Leo Komarov at 2:07. At the next TV timeout, he skated to the bench, and then left for the locker room, slamming his stick against the boards as he left the ice.
"I think Petr got hurt before the last little play there, so we kind of knew something was up," coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "When he came to the bench, you could see that he was dejected. "He definitely wanted to be a part of this. Hopefully, it is not too serious."
Mrazek made 31 saves Friday in a 1-0 overtime victory in Game 1 of the best-of-7 series, which the Hurricanes lead 2-0 with Game 3 at Carolina on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
His personal shutout streak of 135:04, dating to Game 7 of the first round against the Washington Capitals, ended at 13:17 of the first period when forward Mathew Barzal was credited with a goal after Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin redirected Barzal's centering pass into the top corner past Mrazek's glove.
The shutout streak was the second longest in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers Stanley Cup Playoff history. Kevin Weekes went 143:55 without allowing a goal in the 2002 playoffs.
It was McElhinney's first game of the 2019 playoffs. He was 20-11-2 with a 2.58 goals-against average and .912 save percentage in the regular season, when he did not make a relief apperance.
"It's tough," said McElhinney, who had not played since April 6 against the Philadelphia Flyers, when he made 28 saves in a 4-3 victory in the regular-season finale. "Obviously, we haven't done it much this year. I think we may be one of the only teams not to pull their goalie at any time. To go in there without a lot of practice, it does have its challenges, but I felt pretty good getting in there."
"... I think you just want to make the first save and get a feel for the game and I was able to do that tonight. A couple shots early on and you get the flow for it."
