The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs features 16 teams in eight best-of-7 series, which start Saturday. Today, NHL.com previews the Eastern Conference First Round between the New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes.
(2M) Carolina Hurricanes vs. (3M) New York Islanders
Hurricanes: 52-23-7, 111 points
Islanders: 39-27-16, 94 points
Season series: CAR: 2-1-1, NYI: 2-1-1
Game 1: Saturday, 5 p.m. ET (MAX, truTV, TBS, SNP, SNW, SNE, SN360, TVAS)
The Carolina Hurricanes are hoping for more of the same, and the New York Islanders are looking to turn the tables when the teams meet in the 2024 Eastern Conference First Round, a rematch of their series in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Hurricanes won that series in six games, the first step in a journey that ended in a sweep by the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final.
But the Hurricanes remember how hard that series was and say they think this Islanders team is playing just as well, if not better.
"They work hard, and they've got a heavy lineup," Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho said. "They forecheck well up and down. It's a good team."
Said veteran forward Jordan Staal: "They're a very tough team to play against. Obviously, they can grind with the best of them. They've got a great goalie who can steal games as well and some scoring ability up front, too. They're in the playoffs for a reason, obviously a great team. They're a good challenge right from the start."
The teams have met one other time in the postseason, a sweep by the Hurricanes in 2019.
"We've seen them a lot; they're a great hockey team," Islanders forward Anders Lee said of the Hurricanes. "There's a reason why they were coming down to the last game for the Presidents' Trophy. So, we have a big task at hand. It's a complete team over there, but we've seen them a lot lately. We know what we need to do to have success, and part of that is executing everything we got to do and just playing our style of hockey."
The biggest change for the Islanders this time around could be behind the bench. Patrick Roy replaced Lane Lambert on Jan. 20 and went 20-12-5 in 37 games. The Islanders went 8-0-1 in April to move from outside the playoff picture into third place in the Metropolitan Division.
"[Roy] has got them playing really well," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I don't know if there's a ton of difference in the lineup necessarily, but they're playing certainly as a group of 20, and you can see that."
The Hurricanes finished the season by winning seven of their final nine games, with one of the losses coming in their last game, a 6-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday when they rested eight of their regular skaters.
Each team won two games on the road in the season series: Carolina 4-3 in overtime Nov. 4 and 4-1 on March 19; and New York 5-4 in overtime Nov. 30 and 5-4 on Dec. 23.
"They're a really good team; they're playing fast," Islanders forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau said. "You feel like they're on top of you everywhere on the ice. It's going to be the team that competes the hardest that's going to win.
"We know we can play with them, and we can compete with them, and we beat them this year during the season, so it's going to be a good battle, and I think if we play with our identity, which we were able to get back, which is never quit, always compete and battle, I like our team."
Game breakers
Hurricanes: Jake Guentzel, the marquee acquisition prior the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline, was brought in to provide more offensive depth. The price was huge; the Hurricanes gave up forward Michael Bunting, forward prospects Vasily Ponomarev, Ville Koivunen, and Cruz Lucius, a conditional first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, and a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2024 draft for Guentzel and defenseman Ty Smith. The payoff has been bigger. Guentzel has settled in on the top line and has 25 points (eight goals, 17 assists) in 17 games. Sebastian Aho, his center, has 21 points (11 goals, 10 assists) in the same span.
