Game 17 Recap: Hurricanes 4, Islanders 2

It started out like it would be another game better off forgotten for the Carolina Hurricanes, but the team battled back from a two goal deficit and defeated the New York Islanders on Sunday night, 4-2.

At 4:38 into the game, Matt Moulson opened the scoring for the home team on a shot that Cam Ward probably thought he had, but after a delay the puck ended up rolling over the goalie into the net to make the score 1-0.

Before the period was over, John Tavares had also beaten the goaltender and the Islanders took a 2-0 lead into the intermission even though they had been outshot 14-5.

The Canes came out flat to start the second period but Ward started gaining confidence in net and held the fort as the Islanders at one time were out-shooting the visitors 12-1. With just a minute and change left in the period, Carolina would cash in on a powerplay chance when Eric Staal knocked a puck out of the air past goalie Kevin Poulin to get his team on the board.

Staal won the faceoff on the play and Alexander Semin took the shot which bounced in the air and out to the center, who batted in the rebound.

Just 45 seconds later, Jordan Staal would tie the game on a pretty give and go play, also with Semin.

The third period was back and forth until Bobby Sanguinetti jumped into the play and one timed a perfect pass from Patrick Dwyer to put the Canes on top for good.

Semin would steal the puck and put it into the empty net with 30 clicks left to close out the scoring.

The Canes next travel to Washington for a match with the Caps on Tuesday night.

Game Notes:

• Sanguinetti is getting stronger and stronger and should get even better as his confidence grows. The rookie had 21:52 of ice time, two blocked shots, two shots on goal, and a team high three takeaways.
• Semin had a three point night, (1G 2A) and looks primed to go against his former team on Tuesday.
• Jordan Staal had two points, (1G 1A) and won 62% of his faceoffs. The Canes won 52% for the game.
• Ryan Murphy had multiple rushes into the offensive zone but was not credited with a shot on goal. The rookie had 16:15 of ice time, the lowest amount since his recall and contributed a team high three blocked shots.
• It looked like Muller was trying to even up the scoring lines a bit as he moved Chad LaRose to the Staal - Semin line while Tlusty was on the Drayson Bowman, Riley Nash line. We will see if he sticks with those combinations.
• The Canes ended up out-shooting the Islanders 28-25 and were led by E. Staal with four.