The Islanders took the lead twice in this game off early goals in the first and second period, but once again came up short. Marc Gatcomb scored his third of the season, Max Shabanov scored in his return to the lineup, Anders Lee picked up his third goal in four games, Mat Barzal got his 70th point of the season and, of course, we have a Matthew Schaefer Record Update.
Schaefer got an assist on Lee’s late goal, which was his 58th point of the season, the most by an 18 year old defenseman in NHL history.
Also worth noting, if you’re looking for positives in this late-season collapse, that Cal Ritchie picked up his 7th point in his last 7 games with an assist tonight, and all but one of his 4 assists were primary ones. It’s a good end to the season for the Isles’ other highly touted rookie who has had a solid season while Schaefer’s grabbed all the headlines.
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First Period
Carolina got an early power play when Marc Gatcomb took a holding penalty just three minutes into the game, forcing Ilya Sorokin to make some big saves on Sebastian Aho. Scott Mayfield hit Jordan Martinook on the bench with the puck off a clearing attempt, and then right after the penalty expired, Gatcomb made it 1-0, assisted by Simon Holmström and Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
Ondrej Palat hit the post behind Brandon Bussi, just narrowly missing the opportunity to give the Islanders a 2-0 lead.
Then, Seth Jarvis made it 1-1 after beating Ryan Pulock one on one and snapping it past Sorokin. That play started after Mat Barzal’s shot was deflected to Sean Walker in the slot, who passed it up to a streaking Jarvis.
Second Period
Early in the second, Cal Ritchie set up Max Shabanov from behind the net, and Shabanov made it 2-1 in his first game back in the lineup in a while. It was his first goal since the end of December, too.
Adam Pelech was called for holding, and Sorokin once again needed to make some big saves. Mayfield pushed Sebastian Aho into the crossbar and both he and Jarvis ended up in the box after a scrum. No team was able to capitalize on that.
But Carolina absolutely dominated this period, and Jackson Blake eventually tied the game at 2, while the Islanders were held to just five shots in the game to that point.
The Hurricanes got another power play when Ryan Pulock was called for hooking, and the Isles killed that. Then the Islanders got a power play of their own, with Alexander Nikishin called for slashing Mayfield, but Sebastian Aho scored shorthanded to make it 3-2 Hurricanes.
Third Period
Jarvis scored less than a minute into the period to make it 4-2.
Barzal set up Pageau but Bussi made the save. Ritchie also took a shot saved by Bussi, and the Isles had a few good chances stopped in the second half of the period.
Sorokin went to the bench with 3 and a half minutes left, and Anders Lee deflects a Matthew Schaefer shot past Bussi to make it 4-3 with a minute and 30 seconds left, but couldn’t get the tying goal despite some good chances.
Up Next
Next, the Islanders head back to UBS Arena, where they’ll play out the rest of the season. On Thursday, they’ll host the playoff-eliminated Toronto Maple Leafs as they try to grab a much-needed two points and snap the longest losing streak of the season.
