Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Islanders: Game 5 Preview

After their first win on the road in the playoffs since 2021, the Carolina Hurricanes will return home Tuesday night with a chance to put their opening round series against the New York Islanders to bed.

The Canes won game four on (in? on? in?) Long Island 5-2 Sunday afternoon, as two goals from Seth Jarvis, two points from newcomer Mackenzie MacEachern and another solid showing from Antti Raanta led the way to a road victory that gave Carolina a 3-1 lead in the seven-game set.

Now back in Raleigh Tuesday, the Canes will look to win their 11th home playoff game in their last 12 in PNC Arena to book a trip to the second round. Carolina will obviously be without Teuvo Teravainen still (and even more obviously without Andrei Svechnikov and Max Pacioretty), but Jack Drury will hopefully be back into action and Frederik Andersen may even be ready to dress (though, assumingly as Raanta’s backup).

The Islanders’ backs are against the walls, and now they’re headed on the road. Ilya Sorokin, while certainly not fully to blame for the state of the series, has looked very human in net, It should be a fun one Tuesday night in Raleigh, with the Canes hoping to get some downtime at home while avoiding giving the Islanders a chance to tie things up at home.

Game Notes

• All time, the Hurricanes/Whalers franchise is just 10-14 in game fives, but they’re 8-5 on home ice.
• Weird stat, but Carolina has won a playoff series 4-1 just one time ever, the 2006 Eastern Conference semis against New Jersey.
• If the Canes win Tuesday (or Friday, or Sunday), Rod Brind’Amour will become just the third head coach in NHL history to lead his team to a postseason series victory in each of his first five seasons at the helm.
• Jaccob Slavin is one assist shy of passing Eric Staal to move into a tie for third in franchise playoff history.
• Tuesday will be Brent Burns’ 99th career playoff game.