You can list several reasons why the New York Islanders find themselves down three games to none in their second-round playoff series with the Carolina Hurricanes: the 10-day layoff; injuries, including Johnny Boychuk missing the series; a terrible interference call in Game 1 that took a goal away from Mathew Barzal; the posts and crossbars in Game 2. It goes on and on.
There's one problem: Those are all just excuses.
The Hurricanes took advantage of the gifts presented to them in games 1 and 2 at the Barclays Center and hammered the Islanders on Wednesday night in Raleigh, strong-arming Barry Trotz's team to a 5-2 win and commanding series lead. They seized their opportunities, counter-attacking anytime New York entered their zone, blocking tons of shots and not allowing many high-danger scoring chances. It was very reminiscent of how the Islanders themselves earned 103 points, a second-place division finish and first-round sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins this season.
They are literally being beaten at their own game.
You might have been watching Wednesday night and seen the scoreline of 1-1 after the first period and 2-2 after the second. The Islanders, honestly, were lucky to even be in a position to take a game off Carolina. With a raucous home crowd cheering every pass, shot and breakout, the Hurricanes could smell blood in the water, and they attacked seemingly at will. At even strength, they dominated in shot attempts (69-42), shots on goal (32-23), scoring chances (31-19, including 24-11 over the final two periods) and high-danger scoring chances (16-6, and 12-5 in the final two periods).
In a microcosm of the entire series, Islanders goaltender Robin Lehner went behind the net to play an innocent-looking dump-in by Carolina in the third period with the score tied at 2-2..Thomas Hickey was all alone behind Lehner in the left-wing corner, a simple back pass away from a transition.
Instead, the goalie decided to go forward up the boards to a waiting Josh Bailey. Sebastian Aho made a tremendous play to knock the puck out of midair and throw it to the front of the net, where Justin Williams had beaten Brock Nelson. Clean shot, right? Nope. Williams shanks it, but the puck somehow deflects off the left post and flutters behind Lehner for the game-winning goal. Carolina never looked back.
Lehner didn't make many mistakes this season, earning his way to Masterton and Vezina trophy nominations. He has a .946 save percentage in the playoffs. Cal Clutterbuck didn't make many mistakes, either. But both have contributed now with brain cramps that have helped bring the Islanders to the position they now find themselves in.
Nelson has helped. Bailey, too. Nick Leddy and Hickey have had a series to forget. Barzal has been smothered. The offense has scored one goal in three games not deflected in by a Carolina stick. The Hurricanes are out-Islandering the Islanders.
There will be plenty of time to go over what the Islanders need in the offseason, especially given the fact that this series is not yet over. To sweep, Carolina will have to do what no team has done to the Islanders this year -- defeat them in regulation time in more than two consecutive games.
Some might consider the Hurricanes winning this series to be a foregone conclusion at this point, and they would be statistically backed, given the fact that 190 teams have trailed a series 3-0 in NHL history and only four have rallied to win.
Once we officially get to the summer, we can debate on these pages New York's need for a bona fide sniper, what they need to do with their own free agents and possibly to get more offense from the blueline. But that time is not now. There is still a Game 4 on the schedule for Friday night. At this point, it's one at a time.
Follow Andy on Twitter at @AndyGraz_WFAN.
