Jordan Staal scored in overtime to lift the Carolina Hurricanes to a 1-0 win over the New York Islanders in game one of a series that pits two of the numerous Cinderella teams left in the NHL playoffs.
Staal scored 4:04 into the first overtime on Friday to give the Hurricanes their first second round series victory in almost a decade.
The puck bounced to Canadian Staal, whose lunging shot glanced off the skate of goaltender Robin Lehner and into the net in front of a crowd of 15,800 at the Barclays Center arena. Switzerland’s Nino Niederreiter set up the goal by firing a shot off the boards behind the New York net.
“We wanted to get a good start to the series,” Staal said. “They are a very patient and tight defensive team so it was a tight game but we found way to win.
“I don’t know what happened (with the winning goal). It popped out to me and it went in the net so I was happy about that.”
Game two is scheduled for Sunday in Brooklyn. Goaltender Petr Mrazek stopped 31 shots for his fifth playoff shutout.
The Stanley Cup playoffs have been turned upside down this season by upsets. For the first time in the history of the four major North American pro sports leagues, every regular-season division champion was eliminated in the first round.
The Islanders (103 points) are one of three 100-point teams left along with the Boston Bruins (107 points) and San Jose Sharks (101 points). But the Islanders and Hurricanes are two of the four teams remaining that did not reach the playoffs last season.
Friday’s game was also the first for the Islanders at Barclays Center since February 16.
New York played its final 13 regular-season games and both home games of its first-round sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island.
Labanc’s dazzler helps Sharks get lead
Kevin Labanc scored a highlight-reel game-winning goal, and Brent Burns collected a goal and three assists as the host San Jose Sharks broke open a tie game late in the second period and went on to win 5-2 Friday night in the opening tilt in their second-round postseason series.
Game 2 will be Sunday in San Jose. With the score tied 2-2, Labanc - on the heels of his four-point third period in San Jose’s thrilling Game 7 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights to finish opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs - electrified the home crowd and his teammates with four minutes left in the middle frame. Labanc entered the offensive zone with speed, waltzed around Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen while putting the puck through Rantanen’s legs, backed off a defender and ripped a top-corner shot.
Burns doubled the lead with one minute left in the period when he sent a shot from his point position that ricocheted off Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar and into the net. Timo Meier iced the game with a final-minute empty netter.
Martin Jones recovered from allowing an early goal in a 26-save performance for San Jose, which was without captain and top goal scorer Joe Pavelski due to a head injury he suffered in the clinching game against the Golden Knights.
Twice the Avalanche took a lead, and twice they surrendered it. Gabriel Bourque opened the scoring 130 seconds after puck drop when he pounced on a juicy rebound, but the Sharks’ Gustav Nyquist tied the game with a rebound tally with less than six minutes remaining in the opening frame. Colin Wilson put Colorado ahead about four minutes into the second period with a power-play goal - a nifty redirect from the high slot of Rantanen’s shot-pass.
But Joe Thornton scored just past the midway point to again even the affair. Marcus Sorensen blocked a shot at his own blue line to create a two-on-one rush that ended with Thornton wiring a wrist shot home after taking a cross-ice pass.
Shortly before Thornton’s goal, San Jose killed off a four-minute double-minor high-sticking penalty to keep the deficit at 2-1. Colorado goalie Philipp Grubauer stopped 22 shots.
Results
Carolina 1-0 Islanders
San Jose 5-2 Colorado
Jordan Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes celebrates with with Teuvo Teravainen after scoring an overtime goal against the New York Islanders in Game One of the Eastern Conference Second Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Barclays Center in New York. (Getty Images/AFP)
