Evgeny Kuznetsov had a goal and an assist for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 3-1 win against the New York Islanders in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first-round matchup on Saturday evening in Raleigh, N.C.
Stefan Noesen scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period, Brady Skjei was credited with two assists, and Frederik Andersen made 33 saves for Carolina.
“It was a tough game. I think the first two periods went their way, to be honest with you. I’m glad that we got the win,” Kuznetsov said. “That’s not how we want to play. We’ve got to make sure we fix that before the next game.”
The Hurricanes also beat the Islanders in Game 1 of the opening round last season before winning that series in six games.
Kyle MacLean scored and Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves for the Islanders, who finished third in the Metropolitan Division during the regular season, 17 points behind the second-place Hurricanes.
“We came up short, but all year we’ve been resilient and this is the moment to continue to do that,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “It came down to not being capable to score with our great chances.”
The Hurricanes moved ahead 2-1 at 3:44 of the third period.
Kuznetsov took a shot from the right point that was tipped by Skjei and then hit Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock, before Noesen swept the loose puck into the net from in front of the crease.
Martin Necas scored into an empty net with 1:32 left for a 3-1 lead.
Anders Lee went to the penalty box for holding Skjei at 1:22 of the first period, and the Hurricanes scored 13 seconds into the power play to take a 1-0 lead.
Bo Horvat won the faceoff for the Islanders to start the penalty kill, but Andrei Svechnikov was able to keep a clearing attempt by Adam Pelech in the New York zone. The puck made its way to Kuznetsov in the left circle, and he banked Carolina’s first shot of the game off the crossbar and into the net.
“I usually pass from that area, but I saw nobody come at me and I decided to shoot the puck, and it worked out pretty well,” Kuznetsov said.
The Islanders tied it 1-1 at 8:20 of the first.
Alexander Romanov stopped a clearing attempt by the Hurricanes from leaving their zone and then took a wrist shot that was deflected by Lee on the way to the net. Andersen made the save, but he couldn’t secure the puck as he sprawled in the crease, and MacLean swept it into the net.
New York outshot the Hurricanes 13-6 in the scoreless second period.
Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson hit the right post with a slap shot 45 seconds into the third period. The puck then caromed off Andersen, who made an off-balance save on a follow-up try by Dobson as he lost his stick into the corner.
The Hurricanes scored less than three minutes later.
–Field Level Media
