Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Islanders: Game 2 preview, lineups and game discussion

After a 2-1 win in game 1 on Monday, the Hurricanes will look to take a 2-0 series lead over the Islanders tonight before the series shifts to New York on Friday.

Rod Brind’Amour will go with the tried and true playoff “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality and stick with the same lineup we saw on Monday. Antti Raanta, who earned the win in that contest, will again get the start in net.

The Islanders will also, it appears, keep their lineup unchanged as they look to force the 1-1 split that all road teams desire in a playoff series.

Game Notes

• If the Hurricanes win tonight, it’ll be the third straight year in which they’ve started their first-round series with a 2-0 series lead; they did it against Nashville in 2021 and Boston last season.
• One of the biggest question marks coming into this series was special teams: would they help the Hurricanes, or hinder them like they have in playoffs past? So far so good, with both goals Monday coming on the power play and the penalty kill remaining sterling at 4 for 4. Expect that battle to continue to play a key role in this series.
• The Hurricanes’ main power-play quarterback, Brent Burns, had an excellent Carolina playoff debut, coming up with two assists. His next multi-point game would tie him with Kris Letang (18) for the second-most multi-point playoff games among active defensemen, behind only Victor Hedman (24).
• The Hurricanes’ next playoff victory will be Rod Brind’Amour’s 26th as the team’s head coach, moving him past Paul Maurice and into sole possession of the most in franchise history.

Hurricanes projected lineup

Teuvo Teravainen - Sebastian Aho - Seth Jarvis
Stefan Noesen - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Martin Necas
Jordan Martinook - Jordan Staal - Jesper Fast
Jack Drury - Paul Stastny - Derek Stepan

Jaccob Slavin - Brent Burns
Brady Skjei - Brett Pesce
Shayne Gostisbehere - Jalen Chatfield

Antti Raanta
Frederik Andersen

Injuries and Scratches: Pyotr Kochetkov (EBUG), Calvin de Haan (healthy), Dylan Coghlan (healthy), Jesse Puljujarvi (healthy), Max Pacioretty (LTIR Achilles), Andrei Svechnikov (LTIR knee), Ondrej Kase (LTIR concussion)

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee - Bo Horvat - Mathew Barzal
Pierre Engvall - Brock Nelson - Kyle Palmieri
Zach Parise - J.G. Pageau - Hudson Fasching
Matt Martin - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck

Adam Pelech - Ryan Pulock
Sebastian Aho - Scott Mayfield
Samuel Bolduc - Noah Dobson

Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov

Injuries and Scratches: Josh Bailey (healthy), Simon Holmstrom (healthy), Ross Johnston (healthy), Parker Wotherspoon (healthy), Alexander Romanov (upper body), Oliver Wahlstrom (IR lower body)