RALEIGH, N.C. -- The New York Islanders hope to keep their season alive for a second straight game when they play the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round at PNC Arena on Tuesday.
The Islanders lost the first three games of the series but denied the Hurricanes a sweep with a 3-2 double overtime win in Game 4 on Saturday.
New York lost each of the first two games at Carolina. In Game 1, it was 3-1 with an empty-net goal; in Game 2, it was 5-3 despite the Islanders holding a 3-0 lead in the second period.
There is hope, however.
"As soon as you get that first win, it kind of gives you the life to get back into it,” New York defenseman Noah Dobson said. “Obviously the task at hand is still a big task, but for us I think just focusing on going to Carolina and trying to get one on the road and get back home and go from there."
Teams that hold a 3-1 lead in a best-of-7 series are 307-32 (.906) all-time.
But a team has erased a 3-1 deficit in the first round in each of the past three seasons, and four of the past five. The Florida Panthers rallied past the top-seeded Boston Bruins last season. In 2022, the New York Rangers defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Montreal Canadiens upset the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2021. In 2019, it was the San Jose Sharks ousting the Vegas Golden Knights.
Here are 3 keys for Game 5:
1. Learn from the past
The Islanders are in a familiar situation entering Game 5 and can perhaps lean on that experience. They trailed 3-1 in their first-round series against the Hurricanes last year and won 3-2 in Raleigh to force a Game 6 in Elmont, New York.
"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," Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. "But 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 have forced a Game 6 after trailing 3-0 in a series on two occasions: the 1975 Quarterfinals against the Pittsburgh Penguins (New York won series 4-3), and the 1975 Semifinals against the Philadelphia Flyers (Philadelphia won series 4-3).
The visitors are hoping for similar results Tuesday.
"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."
2. Focus on face-offs
The Islanders owned the face-off circle in Game 4. After two periods, they had won 20 of 24 face-offs. For the game, New York won 48 of 71 draws (68 percent).
For the series, the Islanders have won 52.4 percent of the face-offs.
"A couple of guys struggled, but they're taking a lot of face-offs, and that makes the whole number worse," Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. "That was a big component. I thought we got better as the game went on, but certainly early that was a big factor."
Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau went 19-for-23 in Game 4.
The Hurricanes hope the luxury of the last change as the home team will allow them to determine the matchups in the circle and find better results.
3. Line shuffling
The Hurricanes plan to go with the same 18 skaters, but they may be aligned differently.
During practice Tuesday, they switched up three of the four lines. Brind’Amour also threw his lines in the blender during the latter stages of Game 3.
Carolina is on the verge of advancing, but it only has six goals during 5-on-5 play in the first four games and is looking for a spark.
“I wouldn’t read too much into it,” Brind’Amour said. “We’re just looking at some other things. I don’t know how that’s going to go [tonight].”
Islanders projected lineup
Casey Cizikas -- Bo Horvat -- Mathew Barzal
Hudson Fasching -- Brock Nelson -- Kyle Palmieri
Anders Lee -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Pierre Engvall
Simon Holmstrom -- Kyle MacLean -- Cal Clutterbuck
Adam Pelech -- Ryan Pulock
Alexander Romanov -- Noah Dobson
Mike Reilly -- Robert Bortuzzo
Semyon Varlamov
Ilya Sorokin
Scratched: Ruslan Iskhakov, Oliver Wahlstrom, Sebastian Aho, Samuel Bolduc
Injured: Matt Martin (lower body)
Hurricanes projected lineup
Jake Guentzel -- Sebastian Aho -- Andrei Svechnikov
Jordan Martinook -- Jack Drury -- Martin Necas
Teuvo Teravainen -- Jordan Staal -- Seth Jarvis
Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Stefan Noesen
Jaccob Slavin -- Brent Burns
Brady Skjei -- Tony DeAngelo
Dmitry Orlov -- Jalen Chatfield
Frederik Andersen
Pyotr Kochetkov
Scratched: Jackson Blake, Brendan Lemieux, Maxime Comtois, Scott Morrow, Bradly Nadeau, Spencer Martin
Injured: Jesper Fast (upper body), Brett Pesce (lower body)
Status report
Neither team held a morning skate. … Martin traveled with the Islanders, but the forward will miss his second straight game. Holmstrom will take his place.
