N.Y. Islanders: Playing Against The Unseen Hand

From the desk of:  THE BARRY TROTZ PAJAMA PARTY

Hurricanes lead series 2-0

I - CAR 1; NYI 0*

II - CAR 2; NYI 1

*overtime

New York Islanders: Barry Trotz Patiently Waiting For Goal Scorers to Emerge.

So much for home ice advantage ... After a rather unceremonious return to Brooklyn, the question begs to be asked: did the Islanders ever have it in the first place?

Previous to game one they hadn't played at Barclays Center since February.  The Islanders split this season's home schedule between Brooklyn and Uniondale, but finished out the season playing their final twelve home games and first round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Long Island.  Of course the counter is they achieved 103 regular season points partly playing at Brooklyn.

On to the next excuse ...

After a ten game layoff, brushing off game one's overtime loss was the easy thing to do.  Now down two games going away Islanders fans are being led to believe they've secured another moral victory.  As Coach puts it, this is nothing more than the "unseen hand" at work, and that if they continue playing the way they've been, the Islanders will be fine.

With twenty minutes left in game two, the Islanders stood poised to knot the series.  They were leading 1-0 and now facing Carolina's backup goalie.  They had finally scored their first goal of the series back in the first period off starter Petr Mzerak, whom exited the game due to injury early in the second period.  At that point one could only imagine what opportunities potentially awaited the Islanders against Curtis McElhinney.

But Carolina had other ideas.  Warren Foegele's blast from the right wing just 0:17 into the third period tied the game at one.  Robin Lehner had a clean look, but the unseen hand just blew it by him.  Forty-eight seconds later, Nino Niederreiter scored on a deflection.  This time there was nothing Robin Lehner could do to prevent the unseen hand from seizing a 2-1 lead.

Curtis McElhinney took care of the rest, facing 17 shots on goal - all but one at even strength - and stopped them all since taking over early in the second period.

Despite repeated quality opportunities - as Coach points out - the Islanders offensive production was stifled yet again.  It's worth noting Mathew Barzal's first period goal was the result of a Hurricane self deflection.  Therefore truth be told the Islanders are yet to score a clean goal against either Carolina net minder in over 120 minutes of hockey.

Carolina outscored the Washington Capitals by a slim 21-20 margin through seven games.  They averaged three goals per game against the Caps.  But the Islanders defense has so far limited Carolina to half as many through six plus periods of hockey.  Yet they themselves can't seem to find the back of the net after averaging 3.5 goals per game during their sweep of Pittsburgh.

• Useless Stat Alert: the Hurricanes finished the regular season with a +22 point differential while the Islanders registered a +32 mark for the season.

• Cal Clutterbuck is hurt again; details pending.  It's also worth mentioning the Isles are still playing without Johnny Boychuk.