eastern conference

The New York Islanders became the first Eastern Conference team eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They lost Game 6 of their first round series to the Carolina Hurricanes Friday at home at the UBS Arena, 2-1 after overtime.

Big disappointment after a close and defensive series

“That sucks,” drew defense attorneys Scott Mayfield after the end his conclusion. “We didn’t expect that. If you look at the series, we could have won every game except maybe one. One, two, three percent made the difference and they won. It’s tough. It’s difficult to cope with.”

The Hurricanes only won Game 4 relatively comfortably 5-2 to take a 3-1 lead in the series. Otherwise, Carolina had a 2-1 win in Game 1, a 4-3 after overtime in Game 2 and 2-1 after overtime on Friday. The Islanders won Game 3 5-1 and Game 5 3-2.

Video: Nelson and Engvall lead Isles to 3-2 in Game 5

“We had our opportunities,” noted Center Bo Horvat after the crucial game. “We had our chances. We could easily have taken a two or three goal lead.”

Just like in the regular season, that was one of the big problems for the Islanders in this series. The defensive end was impressive during the season with 2.65 goals conceded, the fifth-best tally in the NHL, and was almost unchanged in fifth place in the playoffs with 2.67 goals conceded. However, only three teams scored fewer goals than the Islanders (2.5).

The goal drought was particularly noticeable on the power play. With a success rate of 5.6 percent, they were the worst team of the postseason. Carolina was in ninth place with 20 percent in midfield. At that rate, New York could have scored three more goals in 18 overtime situations. In such a tight series that might have been enough.

The ability to hold the puck to create more chances with more time in puck possession wasn’t a strength either. The Islanders have 84 puck losses, nearly 20 more than the Hurricanes, who had the second-biggest puck losses (66). In the end, the Islanders had just 29 shots per game, only the New York Rangers had fewer shots on target. At the same time, her goalkeeper got it Ilya Sorokin to do with 35 shots at his chest per game, the third highest.

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Despite the defeat, the Islanders players emphasized that they could leave the series with their heads held high. “Maybe we didn’t play well all season, but in the end we stuck together and gave ourselves a really good chance in this series,” said the defender Ryan Pulock the team. “We played against a great team with a lot of playoff experience and just lost.”

With strong defense and Sorokin in goal, the Islanders can continue to be a tricky opponent. If they want to advance further into the playoffs, the offensive has to improve.

Questionable future after Draft Dürre

The Islanders gave up their first-round pick in each of the past three NHL drafts. Their prospect pool is correspondingly thin at the top. The last first-round draft of 2019, winger Simon Holmstrom, has already been integrated into the squad with 50 games this season. Aatu Raty, one of the big offensive hopes, traded to the Vancouver Canucks for Horvat.

Video: VAN@NYI: Horvat extends the Islanders’ lead

Leading the remaining hopefuls to jumpstart the offense from within their own organization are William Dufour (2020 draft, 1st round, #152), Ruslan Iskhakov (2018 draft, 2nd round, #43). ) and Matthew Maggio (2022 draft, 5th round, #142). Perhaps the brightest prospect, Maggio had a stellar season with 111 points (54 goals, 57 assists) in 66 games for the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League, but will likely need time to develop before making his NHL -Can make debut.

Notable talents include Calle Odelius (2022, 2nd round, #65), Isaiah George (2022, 4th round, #98) and Samuel Bolduc (2019, 2nd round, no. 57) but above all in defense, which rather suggests that the course of the Islanders will at least not change significantly due to their own prospects.