The New York Islanders find themselves on the verge of elimination, following a 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3 last night.
Hudson Fasching re-entered the lineup in place of Simon Holmstrom, but the bigger change for New York was Ilya Sorokin getting the start over Semyon Varlamov.
Similar to Game 1 though, things started poorly for New York very early on, with Brent Burns firing a shot on goal from the point, and beating Ilya Sorokin through traffic under five minutes in.
The Islanders did start to press a little afterwards, and Noah Dobson had a great chance on a second attempt around the midway mark of the frame, but Frederik Andersen came across to make a great save. The stop ended up making a difference, as only about a minute later, Dmitry Orlov caught Sorokin a little off his angle to score, quickly putting the Hurricanes up by two.
New York did have a chance after that with a power play but couldn’t convert, and despite outshooting Carolina 15-9, they remained down 2-0 through 20 minutes. A lot of those shots weren’t quality chances, but the Islanders did have their opportunities and it was a decent period overall, the bounces just didn’t go their way.
In the second period though, the Islanders did manage to get on the scoreboard, when Anders Lee found Pierre Engvall in-close, who was able to beat Andersen and cut the lead in half.
However, under five minutes later, Sebastian Aho came in on a rush and managed to beat Sorokin on a long wrist shot that really needed to be stopped, quickly reinstating the two goal lead. That marked the end of Sorokin’s night, with Patrick Roy pulling him and calling Varlamov back into action, to provide a bit of stability.
While that killed the energy for a bit, the Islanders did start to play a little more desperate later in the frame and with under three minutes to go, Brock Nelson buried a rebound at the side of the net to get New York back to within one.
That got the crowd back into the game, and a power play followed shortly after, but it was ended prematurely with only 14 seconds remaining in the frame, due to a Noah Dobson penalty. Regardless, the Islanders had still built a bit of momentum towards the end of the frame.
New York then pressed in the third period from there, outshooting Carolina by an 11-3 margin. Their best chance of the frame came with about six minutes to go, when Andersen fell to the ice just as Alexander Romanov was about to get a shot off, but then still managed to make a huge glove save to preserve the lead. The Hurricanes hung on from there, with the Islanders falling 3-2 to go down 3-0 in the series.
Bouncing back after the devastating ending to Game 2 was always going to be tough, but the Islanders put together a pretty alright game. They outshot Carolina 31-22 overall, and once again, while a lot of those shots did come from the outside, this was a game where the Islanders played well enough to win, but just didn’t get the bounces.
Unfortunately, maybe the biggest story coming out of the game was Ilya Sorokin’s performance, and subsequent exit in the second period. I don’t think going to Sorokin for Game 3 was a terrible idea, but it completely backfired for New York. Sorokin allowed a couple weak goals, with the third one being especially deflating.
I think any concerns about his long-term status as a top NHL goaltender are completely overblown, based on what he’s been able to do in his first few seasons in the league. But if that’s the last we see of Sorokin in net this season, it’ll just be a matter of building back his confidence and returning better for next year.
With the loss, it’s pretty tough to see any path forward for New York. They aren’t the more talented team, and while there have been some promising stretches, with large chunks of both Games 1 and 3 as examples, the chances of taking four straight from Carolina are next to none.
The Islanders will be back in action tomorrow afternoon for Game 4, as they try to hold off elimination.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM THE PLAYOFFS
- Previewing Round 1: Islanders vs. Hurricanes
- Islanders come up short in Game 1, fall 3-1 to Hurricanes
- Islanders blow 3-goal lead to collapse in Game 2, fall behind 2-0 in series
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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