Recap: Islanders 4, Hurricanes 1

The New York Islanders jumped out to a 3-0 lead on the road and held on to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-1 on Tuesday night at the PNC Arena.

Both teams overcame bad weather to make it into town late last night and played the game in front of hearty fans who braved the slick road conditions, especially on secondary roads.

The Islanders scored a goal in each period to make it 3-0, before the home team finally notched one, 11:14 into the third period.  Eric Staal found Jiri Tlusty cutting to the net and Tlusty beat goalie Chad Johnson, who had stymied Carolina up to this point.

Johnson allowed just the one goal on 38 Carolina shots.

Anton Khudobin looked sharp early and made some top level saves in the opening period, but ended up allowing three goals on 29 shots.

Coach Bill Peters pulled his goalie out for an extra skater with more than 4:30 remaining but John Tavares scored with 4:19 left to put an end to that strategy.

Peters scratched Victor Rask and Alexander Semin for the second straight game.

The Canes looked to have some fire later in the third and it appeared that Nathan Gerbe made it 3-2, but he was called for hitting the puck with a high stick before knocking it into the net and there was no goal allowed.  Peters agreed with the call after the game.

Carolina will next play the sinking Toronto Maple Leafs at home on Friday night.

Game Notes:

• The Canes outshot the Isles 38-30 and were led by Jeff Skinner with five.
• The team was credited with 33 hits led by Tim Gleason, who had six.
• Justin Faulk had a team high 23:39 TOI.
• Event Summary