The Carolina Hurricanes drop their league-leading 16th game after regulation in Brooklyn on Tuesday night.
A tight checking game in New York ended poorly for the Hurricanes. Despite playing a very solid game, the Canes fell to the Isles by a final score of 2-1 in shootout.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
No Scoring
2nd Period
CAR Goal (18:31) Derek Ryan (2) assisted by Nathan Gerbe (3)
Derek Ryan picked up a loose puck off of a turnover forced by Nathan Gerbe. Ryan skated to the right circle and beat goaltender Thomas Greiss short side for the game’s first goal.
3rd Period
NYI PPG (12:08) Anders Lee (13) assisted by John Tavares (32), Nick Leddy (34)
On the power play, the Islanders were able to sustain possession. Leddy kept the puck in the zone and passed to Tavares who took a slap shot towards the net. Lee tipped the puck in front of the net and beat Cam Ward for the equalizer
Overtime
No Scoring
Shootout
Kyle Okposo scored on the first attempt of the shoot out on his back hand. Derek Ryan, Frans Nielson, Jordan Staal, John Tavares, and Joakim Nordstrom missed on their shoot out attempts, giving the Islanders the extra point.
Recap
The Hurricanes’ shootout woes continued in Brooklyn, as Okposo was the only player to score in the shootout.
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Cam Ward played well against the Islanders earning a .968 save percentage, but was not good enough to earn the win. The Carolina Hurricanes were playing well going into the last half of the third period, but the team couldn’t kill back to back penalties and allowed the equalizer off of a deflection. The deflection goal wasn’t Ward’s fault, as Lee was able to drastically change the path of the puck.
Carolina Hurricanes
Jeff Skinner headed up the team offensively with five shots on goal and created many more scoring opportunities. One of the bigger moments of the first period was a breakaway that he created by beating Thomas Hickey to a puck in the offensive zone. He didn’t score a goal, but he did draw a penalty for the first power play of the game for the Canes.
Skinner continues on his path of solid play, showing high level courage and determination. His play in the offensive zone has seemed to rub off on Victor Rask, who made a Skinner-like move in overtime to create a scoring chance.
Derek Ryan had the Hurricanes’ only goal of the game, which was his second of the season. He is one of the best stories in the league this year. He has two goals in four NHL games this year at the age of 29. Hopefully he will get some more playing time through the remainder year to see if he’s a viable option in the NHL for next year.
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Carolina’ next game is at home against the New York Rangers on Thursday. It will mark Eric Staal’s first game back in Raleigh since his departure at the trade deadline.