3 Keys: Hurricanes at Islanders, Game 4 of Eastern 1st Round

(1M) Hurricanes at (WC1) Islanders
Eastern Conference First Round, Game 4
Carolina leads best-of-7 series 2-1
Sunday, 1 p.m. ET; TNT, SN360, TVAS, MSGSN, BSSO

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. --The New York Islanders can pull even with the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference First Round with a victory in Game 4 at UBS Arena on Sunday.
New York is hoping to build off its 5-1 victory in Game 3 on Friday after Carolina won the first two games of the best-of-7 series at home.
"It was obviously huge to get the first win," Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech said Saturday. "We never felt out of the series]. The two games in Carolina were extremely tight. … I think we still felt confident going into Game 3 and we got a huge win, so we've just got to keep going forward."
Game 3 was tied until Kyle Palmieri's power-play redirection gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead with 3:51 remaining, the beginning of an outburst that saw New York score four times in a 2:18 span. Carolina was in position to pull out a victory before that but fell to 0-7 in road playoff games the past two seasons.
[RELATED: [Complete Hurricanes vs. Islanders series coverage]
"We can do better at a lot of different things," Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. "Our special teams, for sure, handling their physicality and giving it back to them a bit, and really just playing in their end a little more. I thought we were playing in our end too much, and we can kind of learn from our first period and how we played and how we played in that building and hopefully (have) more of a 60-minute effort."
Teams that take a 3-1 lead are 299-31 (90.6 percent) winning a best-of-7 series, including 3-1 last season.
Here are 3 keys to Game 4:

1. Power up

It hasn't always been pretty, but the team which scores at least one power-play goal has won each of the first three games. Carolina converted on its first two power-play chances in a 2-1 victory in Game 1, and Stefan Noesen was credited with a power-play goal in the second period of its 4-3 overtime win in Game 2 on a bouncing puck knocked in by Islanders forward Sebastian Aho.
It was the Islanders' turn in Game 3, with Palmieri's goal ending an 0-for-8 drought to begin the series after the Hurricanes failed to score on three consecutive power plays earlier in the game.
"It was just getting the puck to the net and some good hand-eye by Kyle, and we got a big goal," Islanders forward Zach Parise said. "As always, there's areas to improve on it, but to get a big goal at a big time was important for us."

2. Hurricanes goalie decision

Goalie Antti Raanta will start for the Hurricanes. They were considering a switch with Raanta starting more than three consecutive games only once this season, a five-game stretch (all wins) from Dec. 22-Jan. 1, which was broken up by the three-day NHL holiday break (Dec. 24-26).
"'Raants' is going to play," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "He's given us a chance and that's all we can ask from our goalie, so no reason to change there."
Raanta is 8-0 with a 1.64 GAA, .939 save percentage and one shutout at home in the playoffs in his NHL career, but 0-7 with 3.78 GAA and .874 save percentage on the road.
Frederik Andersen (21-11-1, 2.48 GAA, .903 save percentage, one shutout in 53 regular-season games) is unavailable after tweaking something the other day, Brind'Amour said. Andersen did not dress for Games 1 and 2 because of an illness.
"I was expecting him probably to be able to go today," Brind'Amour said. "It's nothing serious, so hopefully he'll be available the next one."
Rookie Pyotr Kochetkov (12-7-5, 2.44 GAA, .909 save percentage, four shutouts in 24 regular-season games) is the backup.

3. Stay physical

New York has outhit Carolina 141-95 in the first three games, including 43-28 in Game 3, and hopes that physicality will pay dividends the longer the series goes.
The Hurricanes were 30th in the NHL with 16.24 hits per 60 minutes during the regular season, but they've nearly doubled that rate to 30.8 hits per 60 in this series and need to continue that to keep the Islanders from dictating play.
"It's definitely a grind," Staal said. "It's part of the reason why I enjoy it so much. It's not easy. Every game, every little play matters."

Hurricanes projected lineup

Jack Drury --
Sebastian Aho
-- Seth Jarvis
Stefan Noesen -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Martin Necas
Jordan Martinook -- Jordan Staal -- Jesper Fast
Derek Stepan -- Paul Stastny -- Jesse Puljujarvi
Jaccob Slavin -- Brent Burns
Brady Skjei -- Brett Pesce
Shayne Gostisbehere -- Jalen Chatfield
Antti Raanta
Pyotr Kochetkov
Scratched:None
Injured:Jake Gardiner (back and hip), Ondrej Kase (concussion), Max Pacioretty (torn Achilles), Teuvo Teravainen (broken hand), Frederik Andersen (undisclosed)

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee -- Bo Horvat -- Mathew Barzal
Pierre Engvall -- Brock Nelson -- Kyle Palmieri
Zach Parise -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Hudson Fasching
Matt Martin -- Casey Cizikas -- Cal Clutterbuck
Adam Pelech -- Scott Mayfield
Alexander Romanov -- Ryan Pulock
Sebastian Aho -- Noah Dobson
Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov
Scratched:Josh Bailey, Samuel Bolduc, Simon Holmstrom, Ross Johnston, Parker Wotherspoon
Injured:Alexander Romanov (upper body), Oliver Wahlstrom (lower body)