The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the New York Islanders 5-2 to put the Islanders on the edge with a 3-0 series lead and with Game 4 in their barn to end it all. The Hurricanes can punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since the last time they went to the playoffs in 2009.
Game 4 was a back-and-forth thrill ride between the Carolina Hurricanes scoring to take the lead and the New York Islanders tying the game back up. In the first period, the Hurricanes struck first with a tally from Teuvo Teravainen, with assists from Carolina’s back-end, Jaccob Slavin and Dougie Hamilton.
The Islanders struck right back and made Carolina pay for a penalty, with Devon Toews putting home a goal to tie things up on the Islanders power play. Carolina outshot New York 11-10.
The second period saw the Hurricanes go on the penalty-kill again with Justin Faulk in the box for hooking. With a nice penalty-kill, a continued improvement from the second penalty-kill in the first period, the Hurricanes got even and was able to get Faulk on the breakaway, right from the box, and scoring a highlight reel goal to give the lead back.
Yep. This is one for the highlight reel! pic.twitter.com/T7yCZmZg9Y
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) May 2, 2019
Josh Bailey however would score right back to tie things up with an excellent shot from a bad turnover and once again, the period would end tied.
The third period saw the Hurricanes take control of this game, as they usually do in third periods. Justin Williams would give the Hurricanes the lead after Sebastian Aho‘s incredible hand-eye skills, knocking a pass down from goalie Robin Lehner allowing for a nice set-up.
Right place, right time! pic.twitter.com/4updPhNZoP
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) May 2, 2019
The Hurricanes played with intensity and won races to the puck, destroying the Islanders’ momentum and urgency to win. Teravainen would score an empty-netter and Aho would join in on the fun with an empty-netter, as well.
The Hurricanes have gotten on the better end of three games so far. In Game 1, they stun the hockey world once again with an overtime winner. In Game 2, they flip New York upside down and stealing a win with two goals to not just tie the game up but also take the lead to go home in Raleigh with two wins.
In Game 3, they’ve hyped this Raleigh crowd up and got the needed home win to make this series go 3-0 Hurricanes. They can end the series now, to move on to the Eastern Conference Finals, to fight for champions of the East, and we all know what’s after that. What do they need to do?