Hurricanes finish off Islanders, 6-3, behind quick-strike third-period goals

On to the second round.

The Carolina Hurricanes ignited for two goals in eight seconds in the third period Tuesday in taking a 6-3 victory over the New York Islanders to clinch the first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.

The Canes, beating the Isles in five games, advance to face the New York Rangers in the second round. The Rangers, who edged Carolina in winning the Metro Division this season, have the home-ice advantage and will host Games 1 and 2 at Madison Square Garden.

The Canes first got a goal from Jack Drury, then a second from Stefan Noesen eight seconds later to take the 5-3 lead. It was Drury’s first career playoff goal and the third of the series from Noesen. Seth Jarvis scored a late empty-net goal to finish it off — the Canes outscored the Isles 10-1 in the third period in the five games.

Drury first won a draw in the defensive zone, sped down ice and scored on a shot from the left circle. After the draw at center, Brady Skjei rimmed the puck down the ice and goalie Semyon Varlamov went behind the net to play it. But the puck took a weird carom and bounced back in front of the net, where Noesen was alone and punched it in.

The Canes scored two goals in nine seconds late in Game 2 in an amazing comeback win. They did it one second better Tuesday — the first officially at 4:36, then 4:44 of the third.

Casey Cizikas, taking advantage of a fallen Frederik Andersen, gave the Islanders a 3-3 tie after the second period.

With the Islanders buzzing around the net in the final minute of the second, Andersen tried to make a shift from left to right in the crease and the goalie fell near the post. Cizikas, open in the low slot, scored with 21.2 seconds left.

The Canes scored twice in the first 3:13 of the game, then added a penalty-shot goal from Evgeny Kuznetsov to take a 3-1 lead over the New York Islanders after the first period.

But the Islanders scored early in the second period in transition as Brock Nelson beat goalie Frederik Andersen on a shot from the slot. Nelson’s goal, off a Kyle Palmieri pass, came at 3:47 of the second.

Teuvo Teravainen’s goal just 1:23 into the game made it 1-0 for the Canes, and Andrei Svechnikov scored on the power play at 3:13 as PNC Arena rumbled.

Teravainen sniped a shot from the left circle that was on top of goalie Semyon Varlamov quickly, going off his glove. It was his 19th career playoff goal and second of the first-round series as Seth Jarvis earned the primary assist.

Svechnikov scored on the power play when his backhander from the right circle went off the stick of the Isles’ Robert Bortuzzo as Sebastian Aho drove the net. It was the first goal of the playoffs for Svechnikov, who had four assists in the first four games.

For the Canes, it was the fastest two goals to start a playoff game in franchise history.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi nearly made it 3-0, hitting the crossbar, but then was called for slashing Kyle MacLean. The Islanders converted quickly as defenseman Mike Reilly rifled a rising outside shot that Andersen could not track.

Kuznetsov scored at 13:22 after the Isles defenseman Alexander Romanov was called for gloving the puck in the New York crease, leading to a penalty shot. Kuznetsov took his time, took his time, moving in slowly toward Varlamov before shooting as Varlamov reached out and tried to poke away the puck.

It was the second penalty-shot attempt in franchise playoff history. Jordan Martinook had the first, scoring against New Jersey in Game 3 of the second-round series last year.

The Canes ended the first period with a 21-4 edge in shots as they constantly kept the pressure on Varlamov.

Shaking up lineup

After the Hurricanes scored only six five-on-five goals in the first four games of their first-round series, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour threatened to shake up the lineup with new lines in practice on Monday, while also cautioning not to read too much into it.

Tuesday night, he followed through on his threat. At least in warm-ups before Game 5.

The top line of Jake Guentzel, Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov remained intact but Jack Drury centered Jordan Martinook and Martin Necas, Jordan Staal centered Teuvo Teravainen and Seth Jarvis and Jesperi Kotkaniemi dropped to wing on the fourth line with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Stefan Noesen.

“We’re not scoring as much as I’d like but they’re doing their best to keep us from the net,” Brind’Amour said. “They’re letting good battles go. We’ve got to fight to get there a little harder, maybe. I look at it a little differently. We’re in a good spot considering we’ve only scored six even-strength goals. We’ve got a lot of guys that are ready to break through.”

Frederik Andersen and Semyon Varlamov remained opposite each other in net.

The Svechnikov Conundrum

Svechnikov has been a dynamic force in this series, setting up goals, throwing his body around and almost entirely avoiding the offensive-zone penalties that are usually his kryptonite.

The Hurricanes forward has made whatever line he has played on better, starting with Staal and Martinook and now with Aho and Guentzel. He’s tied for the team lead with four points going into Game 5. He even made a feint toward attempting a lacrosse goal in Game 4. (On a delayed penalty and not in overtime, which would have been epic, but still.)

But there’s still a zero next to his name in the goals column.

“He’s done a great job and been a really good player,” Brind’Amour said. “He hasn’t been rewarded for how well he’s played. He’s been around it.”

This is only a problem because while the Hurricanes have many, many playmaking forwards, they only have a few capable of finishing at a level even close to Svechnikov. Guentzel, with one empty-net goal to his name, is one. Aho, tied for the team lead with two goals, is another.

If Svechnikov’s absence a year ago was one of the reasons the Hurricanes’ offense fell short as they lost four straight one-goal games in the conference finals, his presence this spring has certainly provided a boost, if not any goals off his stick yet.

“He’s been an effective player for us this series,” Aho said. “He’s just a beast out there whenever he’s on the ice. He plays physical, he makes plays, he can score goals. Obviously, he hasn’t scored any yet, but if he plays like that, he’s going to score.”

Big hitter, the captain

Going into Game 5, Staal leads the Hurricanes in hits with 22, more than double Svechnikov’s 10 in second place. It’s a notoriously erroneous stat, but a gap like that is still surprising.

What is undeniable: The Islanders have not found him easy to play against. The Staal-Martinook-Jarvis line has yet to allow a goal at five-on-five in the series and Staal has only been on the ice for one goal against, the Islanders’ four-on-four goal to open Game 2.

“He’s so big,” Islanders center Bo Horvat said. “He’s a very strong man that obviously has been in the league for a long time and done it for a long time. He’s definitely tough to go against. He gets the best out of me every single night when I have to go against him. I’ll have to be at my best again tonight.”

And countable hits aside, this has been a hard-fought series, with open ice hard to find outside of the Hurricanes’ utter dominance over the final two periods of Game 2.

“It’s a pretty physical series,” Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov said. “Maybe not so much hits as Bruins-Toronto, but at same time we play hard, both teams want to win the game, we battle as hard as we can. ... It’s not so much open-ice hits or something, but a lot of battles in the corner, a lot of stick on puck, poke check. A lot.”

PNC synergy

N.C. State men’s basketball Kevin Keatts was the pregame siren sounder, with D.J. Burns handling the second intermission — their first public appearance at PNC Arena since winning the ACC title and going to the Final Four. Chef Scott Crawford got the call at the first intermission.

Tailwinds

Hurricanes goale Pyotr Kochetkov was not one of the three finalists announced for the Calder Trophy. Chicago’s Connor Bedard, Minnesota’s Brock Faber and New Jersey’s Luke Hughes are the top vote-getters from the Professional Hockey Writers Association for the NHL’s top rookie. … Simon Holmstrom replaced Ruslan Iskhakov in the Islanders’ lineup, with Matt Martin still injured. ... Tuesday was Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello’s 325th playoff game as a general manager, passing Glen Sather and setting a new NHL record. The Hurricanes have eliminated Lamoriello’s teams in their past five postseason meetings (New Jersey in 2002, 2006 and 2009, the Islanders in 2019 and 2023).