Drury, Noesen assist Hurricanes beat Islanders

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RALEIGH, N.C. — Jack Drury scored the go-ahead objective early within the third interval and Stefan Noesen cleaned up a fluky puck bounce off the boards for an additional 8 seconds later because the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders 6-3 on Tuesday evening, clinching their first-round NHL playoff sequence in 5 video games.

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The Hurricanes twice blew two-goal leads and entered the ultimate 20 minutes in a 3-3 tie earlier than Drury struck for his first profession postseason objective, controlling a dribbling puck to zip it previous Semyon Varlamov to his blocker aspect at 4:36 of the third.

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Then, after a faceoff win, the Hurricanes dumped the puck into the Islanders finish towards the nook. However as Varlamov went behind the web to play the puck, it took an sudden bounce close to the door and caromed proper into the crease.

Noesen charged in to bury it as Varlamov tried desperately to get again to the netfront, pushing Carolina to a 5-3 lead at 4:44.

That was in the end sufficient to assist the Hurricanes lastly push previous the decided Islanders, incomes a minimum of one playoff sequence win for the sixth time in as many seasons. And that earned them a date with the Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers within the second spherical.

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Carolina jumped to a 3-0 lead on this best-of-7 sequence earlier than lacking out on an opportunity to clinch in Saturday’s double-overtime street loss. That arrange a well-recognized situation from final yr, when the Islanders gained Recreation 5 right here to increase that first-round sequence earlier than falling in six video games.

This time, Carolina closed it out even after a tense vibe in its usually rowdy dwelling enviornment going into these last 20 minutes. By the top, although, Seth Jarvis had added an empty-net clincher on the 18:21 mark to let Hurricanes followers keep in a celebratory roar to shut this one out.

Noesen’s weird objective captured a number of the wild motion, which included New York’s Casey Cizikas scoring within the last seconds of the second on an unguarded internet — which emerged when Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen merely stumbled as he scrambled to his proper after a cease and fell untouched out of the crease.

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Carolina scored twice and rang the submit within the opening 3 1/2 minutes and twice led by two targets, solely to see the Islanders climb all the way in which again and tie it at 3 on Cizikas’ rating to enter the ultimate interval.

Teuvo Teravainen and Andrei Svechnikov scored in that opening blitz from Carolina, whereas Evgeny Kuznetsov added a slow-play rating on a penalty shot to beat Varlamov earlier than the top of the interval for a 3-1 lead.

Mike Reilly and Brock Nelson additionally scored for the Islanders, who gained eight of their final 9 video games to clinch a playoff bid within the waning days of the common season. That got here after a January teaching change with the firing of Lane Lambert to rent Patrick Roy.

Carolina entered the playoffs as the favourite to win the Stanley Cup based on Wager MGM Sportsbook, however the Islanders gave the Hurricanes suits the whole method. That included outplaying Carolina for a lot of the Recreation 1 loss, then blowing a 3-0 lead by giving up the tying and go-ahead targets 9 seconds aside within the last 3 minutes of Recreation 2.

Finally, one other improbably fast burst helped end off the Islanders.

Varlamov had 32 saves, whereas Andersen completed with 22.

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