The Carolina Hurricanes, fresh off eliminating the Washington Capitals, came into Brooklyn on Friday night with a day off to begin the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Islanders. New York had been sitting for 10 days, waiting for its opponent to be determined. What that produced was an ugly night of hockey in its purest form, with Jordan Staal netting the overtime winner in a 1-0 game, as the Hurricanes temporarily took home ice back.
Petr Mrazek made 31 saves, some outstanding in pitching the shutout.
New York looked rusty throughout -- not in the legs, but in the hands. The Isles skated well and generated 15 high-danger scoring chances while allowing only nine. However, they could not convert, misfiring countless times due to inaccuracy or insufficient timing. On their transition, there were countless efforts when the team looked bunched up and out of sync. The power play was 0-for-4, and at this point, why not give the fourth line a shot? Once again, it was the most consistent from shift to shift, although Cal Clutterbuck's brain cramp led to the game-winning goal.
If you choose to go with complaints about the ice as being the reason, there were two teams out there playing on the same sheet. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't just bad, but downright atrocious. But not the reason the Islanders lost their first playoff game of 2019.
If you want to complain about the officials, who took a goal away from Mathew Barzal in the second period, instead choosing to call interference on Anders Lee, you're getting warmer. Still, not the reason the Islanders lost.
The power play? Now you're getting hot.
Devon Toews being late in recognizing Staal on the back door after a shot wide and end-board carom? You just ignited.
Clutterbuck's ridiculously bad drop pass in overtime when he had space to continue skating toward the net and, I don't know, throwing the puck there? You are an inferno.
Let's turn our attention, firstly, toward the missed call that occurred in the second period. After the puck caromed off the wall, Barzal tucked it into the cage while Anders Lee was clearly being pushed into Mrazek by Lucas Wallmark outside the crease. You can even see Lee turned his leading skate parallel to the crease to make an attempt to skirt the area and avoid contact. Mrazek was coming out to play the point shot and had a dragging pad still in the blue paint.
The goal was immediately waved off. There wasn't much of a discussion or, God forbid, a review. And then there was the ultimate slap in the face as a penalty was assessed to Lee. Now, I ask you: Where in the world is Lee supposed to go? What is he supposed to do? In reviewing Rule 69 in the official NHL rulebook, there should have certainly been a conversation between all the officials and a call made to Toronto to get it right. Because they didn't, in a big way.
It proved costly as the Hurricanes, by the tried and true eye test, didn't seem to scare the Islanders much. They don't play overly physical and New York seemed to control its counterattack and have its way with Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen. Carolina dominated possession and shots in the regular-season meetings, but not Friday. Five-on-five Corsi was 43-42 for the Canes, and shots were 23-22 for New York, 25-18 scoring chances. For a team that likes to control that part of the game and throw endless pucks to the net, I'd say the Islanders did a good job.
I can't tell you what Clutterbuck was thinking. Maybe it was a perfect example of what I said earlier about the team being rusty in the hands and upstairs mentally. Just not a smart play on bad ice in overtime. You get as many pucks as you can to the net, and there was a golden opportunity to do so in that position. Once Carolina recovered and started a two-on-one the other way, New York never recovered in the defensive zone, leading to the second mistake by Toews.
"It's Game 1," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said in his postgame news conference. "They didn't win the series. We lost a hockey game. We have to respond."
As I wote in my series preview, this won't be a pretty series. It will be tough hockey, grind hockey. Isles goalie Robin Lehner echoed those sentiments when he spoke to the media.
"Obviously not the result wanted," he said. "Small margins here in the playoffs. I thought we played a good game; they did, too. It's going to be a tight series."
If you think it's over after one loss -- and I did get a few tweets alluding to such -- you obviously haven't been watching this team much under Trotz. Expect a much more cohesive group Sunday afternoon when Game 2 is played in Brooklyn.
Follow Andy on Twitter at @AndyGraz_WFAN
