Islanders Keep Season Alive in Game Four Victory Over the Hurricanes

With their season on the line and in a win-or-go-home situation, the New York Islanders squared off against the Carolina Hurricanes at UBS Arena for Game Four of their first-round series on Saturday afternoon. The Islanders' two netminders, Semyon Varlamov and Ilya Sorokin, had allowed 11 goals in total going into Game Four of the series, and they had failed to receive strong starts from both in the previous three games. The Islanders were looking to find a spark and escape elimination, and Varlamov was starting again after missing out on the starting lineup in Game Three. With the help of a two-goal game from Mathew Barzal and a 42-save performance by Varlamov, the Islanders would come away with a thrilling 3-2 double-overtime victory over the Hurricanes to force a Game Five. 

To begin the game, on the first power play of the game, the Hurricanes would capitalize on an Islanders tripping penalty by Anders Lee as Seth Jarvis would corral the puck at the front of the net with a lot of traffic and shoot the puck past Varlamov’s right side at the eight-minute mark to give Carolina a 1-0 lead in the first period. Midway through the second period, Barzal would score his first goal of the afternoon after he shot the puck at the top of the offensive zone and it went past goalie Frederik Andersen’s left glove and into the net to even the score at 1-1 for the Islanders. After Sebastian Aho was given a tripping penalty to close the middle frame, the Islanders went on the power play to start the third period. Jean-Gabriel Pageau would score a goal via a rebound off Andersen's pads with 22 seconds remaining on the man advantage, giving New York a 2-1 lead.

Following a hooking penalty by Robert Bortuzzo, the Hurricanes would go on the man advantage with seven minutes left in regulation. Only 34 seconds into the power play, Stefan Noesen deflected a pass from Teuvo Teravainen in front of the net and squeaked the puck over Varlamov’s right pad to tie the game at two apiece, which would ultimately send the game to overtime. The game would go into double overtime after a scoreless first extra period in which both sides combined for 25 shots. With their season on the line, only 1:24 into the second overtime period, Barzal would deflect a shot from Bortuzzo past Andersen and into the net for his second goal of the game to keep the Islanders’ season alive as they staved off elimination to force a Game Five back in Raleigh on Tuesday night.