The second round is here.

The New York Islanders will open up their series against the Carolina Hurricanes tonight at 7 p.m. Here’s the pre-game report.

HEAD TO HEAD
In the regular season, the Islanders won three of four games against the Hurricanes. That being said, in the four games, Carolina outshot the Islanders 136-90, a pretty significant margin. That’s an average of about 34-23 pre game– definitely not an ideal situation for the Islanders. The Hurricanes were pretty even between home and the road this season but in the first round, the Hurricanes went 3-0 at home and 1-3 on the road (that being said, obviously the road win was the most important of the season). This year marks Carolina’s first trip to the playoffs since 2008-09.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

NYI
Jordan Eberle led the offense for the Islanders against Pittsburgh, with four goals and six points in four games, ending the series at a plus-six rating. Josh Bailey and Brock Nelson each contributed three goals, while Mathew Barzal and Valtteri Filppula combined for nine assists.

Nick Leddy, Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock all played big minutes throughout the series and combined for a plus-nine in the four games. Robin Lehner was excellent in net as well, with a .956 save percentage in the series.

CAR
Unlikely key performers for Carolina were Warren Foegele and Jordan Staal, who each had six points in their seven game series against Washington, combining for seven goals.

On the backend, Jaccob Slavin was excellent, with nine assists and a plus-four rating, while Dougie Hamilton pitched in offensively with three goals and six points.


GOALIE MATCHUP
NYI: Robin Lehner ended the first round with a 1.47 goals against average and a .956 save percentage.
CAR: Petr Mrazek ended the first round with a 2.53 goals against average and a .899 save percentage.

PERFORMANCE VS OPPONENT
Below, we look at key players who have overperformed or underperformed against the opponent.

NYI Individual Career Stats vs CAR
Overperformer: Nick Leddy has 15 points in 25 games.
Overperformer: Anders Lee has 17 points in 20 games.
Overperformer: Brock Nelson has 17 points in 23 games.
Underperformer: Robin Lehner is 0-4-0 with a .885 save percentage in four games.

CAR Individual Career Stats vs NYI
Overperformer: Dougie Hamilton has 11 points in 17 games.
Overperformer: Nino Niederreiter has four goals and eight points in nine games.
Overperformer: Jaccob Slavin has six goals and 10 points in 16 games.
Underperformer: Micheal Ferland has two points in 10 games.
Underperformer: Petr Mrazek has an .889 save percentage in 14 games.

General Notes

- Robin Lehner may historically perform poorly against the Hurricanes but Petr Mrazek has been just as bad against the Islanders.

- Each team has three key skaters who overperform against the other team.

- Though the Islanders won three or four against Carolina this year, the Hurricanes outshot New York badly in those four games.

Puck drop is at 7 p.m.

For more, follow @BenShelley_20 on Twitter.


*Edited on April 26.*

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