And now...towels. | Photo by Michael Mooney/NHLI via Getty Images It’s now or never. Maybe the sting of the Game 2 loss has worn off for some, and there’s room for excitement as the Islanders are back on Long Island for their only two home playoff games in their series with the Carolina Hurricanes. After all, you’re not really in trouble until you lose a home game, as the playoff conventional wisdom goes. For others, it’s a death march, with low expectations and fears of another extinguishing at the hands of the Canes. Either way, once the music and the crowd buzz starts, even the biggest pess ..read more

Kyle MacLean has been a revelation. | Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images The Islanders’ chances aren’t good, but the series isn’t over yet. It’s a good thing I didn’t have to post an article yesterday morning because it would have been despondent. That’s a natural feeling, of course, considering how Game 2 fell apart. But I was done moping by yesterday afternoon. My expectations were pretty low coming into this series and are even lower now, but this series isn’t over yet. Indeed, it is tough to envision these New York Islanders winning four out of five games against those Carolina Hurrican ..read more

In two games, they’ve made us feel as bad as we felt all season. Mike and Dan react immediately following the Islanders’ third period meltdown in Game Two against the Hurricanes, when a 3-1 lead became a 5-3 loss. No goal-by-goal recap for this one. You all saw it. The Islanders stopped playing after going up 3-0 on 12 shots, let Carolina take over the game and now come back home down 2-0 in the series. It was as embarrassing and unforgivable a loss as the franchise has ever seen at the most important time of year, and even a win on Thursday won’t be enough to fully get us back on board. REF ..read more

Should probably go home now. | Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images Ugly as it was, blowing a 3-0 lead was totally in the probability set. There’s not much more to say about Game 2 that hasn’t already been said. It was a poor, uninspiring performance — though the national broadcast focused on their grit! Their toughness! — masked somewhat by the fact the Isles built a 3-0 lead. They weren’t horrible up to that point, but aside from cashing in their few chances, they’d been less impressive than in Game 1. Then the Hurricane response to being down 3-0 came...in wave after wave with virtually no ..read more

Missing the mark, again. | Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images Not all losses are equal. This one stung. For the second game in a row, the New York Islanders were in position to defy the experts and steal a game from heavily favored Carolina in their first-round playoff series, but for the second game in a row, the Isles walked away as the losers. This time, however, was much worse than Game 1, both in overall performance and in how they went about losing. They were outshot 39-12 and blocked 36 more; even with score effects accounting for some of that, it was worse showing than Game 1. Unlik ..read more

Moments that count. | Photo by NHLI via Getty Images It’s a rematch of the rematch, in Raleigh. Weren’t we just here? After what felt like a quick weekend, the Islanders and Hurricanes are back at it for Game 2. Same goalies get the nets. For the Islanders, J-G Pageau made the morning skate and is a gametime decision. #Isles at morning skate Cizikas-Horvat-Barzal Holmstrom-Nelson-Palmieri Lee-Pageau-Engvall Martin-MacLean-Clutterbuck (Extras: Fasching, Wahlstrom, Iskhakov) Romanov-Dobson Pelech-Pulock Reilly-Bortuzzo (Extras: Aho, Bolduc) Varlamov (starter’s net) Sorokin Skarek — Andrew Gros ..read more

More of the same, but also less of the “same,” please. Mike and Dan recap Game 1 of the Islanders-Hurricanes series, which featured a good performance but more bad luck against Carolina. For a large part of the game, the Islanders were the better team, showing prognosticators that they can hang with the presumptive Stanley Cup favorites. But just like 2019 and 2023, a bad bounce at the wrong time turned the tide and left the Islanders (in some cases, literally) scratching their heads. But as well as they played, there were some that could be better, which makes the outlook for Game 2 more opt ..read more

That close to 2-1 Islanders. Naturally, Carolina took the lead minutes later. | Photo by Cato Cataldo/NHLI via Getty Images But if the Islanders can keep this up, they’ll make a series out of this. The New York Islanders played well enough to beat the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1, but the Candy Canes got one more bounce than the Islanders did. The Islanders have to be encouraged by how well they hung with and at times even controlled play against the Hurricanes. If the Islanders can take Game 2 and steal home ice, heading back to Long Island with a 1-1 split, they would have a great chance to ..read more

Gah. | Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images If the Isles need to cash in on their best opportunities to win this series, they already wasted a prime one. Kicking off their first-round series with the Carolina Hurricanes, the New York Islanders lost a Game 1 where they played pretty well and could have and maybe really should have been in position to win. They never had a lead, but spent over 20 minutes with the better share of chances to take one.How much that costs them is of course TBD by how the rest of the series goes, but the Isles will feel like they played well enough to have a win, bu ..read more

It’s that time again. | Photo by Jaylynn Nash/Getty Images The rematch kicks off the 2024 playoffs in Raleigh... The 2024 NHL playoffs begin with the Islanders and Hurricanes meeting again for a first-round series in Raleigh. Same teams, but many differences from last year — a different coach for the Islanders, obviously, but also this year they should have a healthy Mat Barzal rather than the one just returning from injury last season. However Noah Dobson, who’s had a breakout year, is in that position Barzal had last year, entering the lineup fresh off an injury, and perhaps not 100%. J-G Pa ..read more