Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Aho, Martinook cap Hurricanes’ late rally to beat the Islanders for a 2-0 playoff series lead

Share

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Sebastian Aho and Jordan Martinook scored 9 seconds apart late in the third period to help the Carolina Hurricanes complete a comeback from three goals down to beat the New York Islanders 5-3 on Monday night, taking a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series in improbable fashion.

Aho struck first by redirecting Andrei Svechnikov’s shot at the right post behind Semyon Varlamov with 2:15 remaining to tie the game at 3. After an Islanders giveaway on the ensuing faceoff, Martinook raced down to beat Noah Dobson to the puck along the boards and then pushed it toward the same post with a wraparound attempt from behind the net.

The puck banged off Varlamov’s left skate and slipped into the net for the 4-3 lead with 2:06 to go, sending the Hurricanes players mobbing a jumping Martinook amid a roof-blowing roar from a shocked home crowd.


Carolina Hurricanes' Brent Burns (8) tries to stop the puck as it slips by goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) as New York Islanders' Kyle Palmieri (21) watches his goal during the first period in Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)
Carolina Hurricanes’ Brent Burns (8) tries to stop the puck as it slips by goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) as New York Islanders’ Kyle Palmieri (21) watches his goal during the first period in Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

Jake Guentzel added an empty-net score in the final minute to seal this one, which ended with frustrations flaring for the Islanders, several scrums between the teams and multiple players taking early walks to the locker room.

The series shifts north for the next two games, with Game 3 set for Thursday night.

This was a brutal finish for the Islanders, who used goals from Kyle Palmieri, Bo Horvat and Anders Lee — the last being a forehand-to-backhand finish atop the crease on the power play — to take a 3-0 lead early in the second period. And that had them poised to earn a split after losing 3-1 in Game 1 despite a performance that left coach Patrick Roy encouraged by his team’s play.

Instead, New York unraveled in crushing fashion, starting with Varlamov taking a tripping penalty on Stefan Noesen to put Carolina on a power play. Teuvo Teravainen converted on the man advantage by finishing a feed from Guentzel at 13:01 of the second, cutting the deficit to 3-1 and breathing life back into a stunned-silent arena.

And from there, the Hurricanes kept the pressure on, tipping the ice toward Varlamov with withering sustained shifts in the offensive zone. That included both Aho and Seth Jarvis each ringing the post late in the second, and then Guentzel in the third before Jarvis buried a cross-ice feed from Jordan Staal to bring Carolina to within 3-2 at 10:43 of the third.

The Hurricanes finished with a 39-12 shot advantage, with Varlamov facing 16 in the final period alone before finishing with 34 saves. New York, which had just one shot on goal in the third period, also a goal waived off when Kyle McLean’s Jarvis-answering redirect past Andersen came with his stick high in the air.

Andersen finished with nine saves for Carolina.

___

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl