Canes score late but give one up even later in loss to Islanders

That was an absolutely heartbreaking loss. Carolina falls 2-1 to the New York Islanders as they completed their third game in four nights and come up short against the Islanders team that was supposed to be the favorite for the division coming into the year. Carolina’s scoring woes at this point are becoming a more serious issue than anyone wants to talk about, and it’s not a good sign.

Carolina’s inability to put the puck in the net came back to bite the team again. If the Hurricanes put the puck in the net consistently, they will walk to the Stanley Cup, but every team has issues and this offense is streaky. The Canes cannot rely on their offense to win them games and the fact the defense and goaltending haven’t been able to bail the offense out is concerning. Carolina’s offense needs to wake up.

We all knew the New York Islanders were going to come into this game, clogging up the slot, force everything to the outside, and they were going to try to play boring hockey. It’s what the Isles do. They’ve done it with great success for years up on Long Island, and Carolina never looked like they had an answer for it. They were wasteful with the chances they got and it bit them.

With 56 seconds left in the game, they got their first goal to tie it up at one and it needed the goalie to be on the bench and to have the spare man in the slot to get to the loose puck. It’s only because of that they were able to tie the game up at 1-1 and it didn’t last for long. Carolina should have been out of sight in this game. This should not have been a competition.

Of course, the Islanders open their lead back up with 14 seconds left and the Canes could only watch the time run off the clock. This has not been good enough in recent times and this team is on pace to get whooped in the playoffs by an elite team from the Atlantic. They currently lead the Metropolitan on points percentage. Their lead was once 10 with a game in hand. It’s unacceptable.