-
Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
ELMONT, N.Y. — Instead of sweeping the New York Islanders out of the playoffs, Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour watched his team give their opponents new life on Saturday afternoon.
Forward Mathew Barzal‘s double-overtime deflection goal won Game 4 for the Islanders, 3-2, sending the series back to Raleigh.
“They’re back in it. We gave them some hope here now,” Brind’Amour said. “We’ve talked about how tough it is to win four games in a row, especially with the game being as even as they are. It could have gone either way in the previous three. We expected it to be a long series and now we’ve just got to focus on the next one.”
Barzal powered the Islanders with his first two goals of the playoffs, tying the game in the second period and then winning it by deflecting home a shot from the point by defenseman Robert Bortuzzo at 1:24 of the second overtime.
“We weren’t going to go down without a fight and now we’re in a fight,” said Bortuzzo, who atoned for a critical third-period penalty with the assist. “The plan was to just get one win. We got that, we regroup and we move forward.”
All four games of the series have been competitive into the third period. Barzal said it’s the most tightly played series he’s ever experienced. “I don’t think I’ve been in a series where the checking is this tight. It’s on both sides really,” he said. “Every shift we’re out there, the checking is on another level right now.”
For the Islanders, there was no margin for error. Carolina had a chance to eliminate them in four straight games; beyond that, the Hurricanes had a chance to eliminate the Islanders in overtime on Long Island for a second straight postseason, having beaten the Islanders in six games during the first round in 2023.
But coach Patrick Roy said that he didn’t stress those do-or-die stakes to his team during overtime.
“It never really crossed my mind that’d be the end of a season,” he said. “I just said to the guys (in overtime) that it doesn’t have to be pretty. A lot of times in overtime any shot could turn out to be dangerous.”
After the Islanders’ started the game strongly, captain Anders Lee took a tripping penalty 7:14 into the game. Seth Jarvis converted on the ensuing Carolina power play for the 1-0 lead. The Islanders found the equalizer at 10:10 of the second period, as Barzal scored his first of the playoffs on a shot from above the circles that beat Freddie Andersen.
New York grabbed the lead 1:38 into the third period on a Jean-Gabriel Pageau power-play goal, his first of the playoffs. Carolina’s Sebastian Aho was in the box on a late second-period tripping penalty. But Carolina knotted the game with 5:52 left in regulation. With Bortuzzo in the box for hooking, Stefan Noesen scored his second of the playoffs on a deflection in front of goalie Semyon Varlamov.
It remained tied until Barzal’s goal, thanks in part to 18 overtime saves by Varlamov.
“Awesome. Awesome game. We’re still in it, which is very exciting,” said Varlamov, who made 42 saves on his 36th birthday. “I was just happy because you don’t want to go to the third or fourth overtime. We want to finish the game as soon as you can.”
Roy started Varlamov in Games 1 and 2 but gave Ilya Sorokin the start in Game 3. That backfired, and Sorokin was pulled in the second period in favor of Varlamov.
“What I love about Varley right now is that everything seems easy. He’s not over-moving. He’s square, he’s big in the net,” Roy said.
There’s a lot about the Islanders’ Game 4 effort that Roy loved – especially the fact that there will now be a Game 5 on Tuesday night.
“You have no idea how proud I’m of this group. I mean, they came out and played hard. Even when (Carolina) took the lead, they stayed calm and stayed focused. The guys were determined to find a way to win this hockey game,” he said.