To advance, the Islanders must sweep four games–starting today–at home.
Go ahead and debate Patrick Roy’s decision to start Ilya Sorokin in Game 3. The Islanders goaltender played poorly in NYI’s 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night at UBS Arena. He was pulled in the second period after giving up three goals on 14 shots.
But blaming the decision would be missing the point of why the Islanders are in danger of being swept in this first-round playoff matchup. The Hurricanes are just the better team. The results speak for themselves.
The home team played listlessly Thursday night in a must-win game without desperation or aggression. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes played their game, and the Islanders couldn’t keep up.
Pierre Engvall gave the Islanders life by scoring a goal in the second period, cutting the deficit to 2-1, but the Islanders couldn’t feed off the momentum, skating around rather than shooting. Soon, it was over when Sebastian Aho scored in the second period to make it a 3-1 game on Sorokin’s softie that had him pulled.
Sorokin wasn’t the solution, but the Islanders looked flat even then. I don’t know what else Roy can do because the Islanders’ best players haven’t played like best players. The Hurricanes have done an excellent job of neutralizing the Islanders stars in this series, which is another reason why they are ahead and why the Islanders are a team waiting to escape their misery. If Kyle MacLean ends up being the best player, that’s telling.
The Hurricanes have too many scorers for the Islanders to keep up, and that showed in Monday night’s game when Carolina overcame a 3-0 deficit to win 5-3 in Game 2. In that game, the Islanders relied on defense and goaltending because NY did not have the personnel to outshoot the Hurricanes. That’s when the Hurricanes realized they were playing a vulnerable team. If Game 2 was the blow for the Islanders, then Game 3 deflated the team’s hopes of even making this a series.
If the Islanders had won Thursday’s game, there would be optimism for Game 4. But now it’s hard to believe the Hurricanes will blow the series by losing four straight. Indeed, Carolina fancies itself as a Stanley Cup contender with a killer’s instinct, and Game 4 presents an opportunity to put away a wounded opponent.
The bottom line is that Islanders have a tall order: avoid being swept. Will they? Gametime is at 2 p. on TBS.
