Game 2 Takeaways: Hurricanes storm back to stun Islanders

The New York Islanders tried to hang on for dear life to a 3-0 lead in Raleigh, but the Carolina Hurricanes waged a comeback for the ages — they scored twice in nine seconds in the dying minutes of the game —  to take a commanding 2-0 series lead.

Sebastian Aho tied things up while Carolina’s net was empty, Jordan Martinook added the winner nine seconds later and the Hurricanes earned a 5-3 comeback win in front of a raucous crowd at PNC Arena.

The series now heads to Long Island for Game 3 on Thursday night.

Here are our takeaways from the Game 2 comeback:

Things that happened before the New York Islanders registered a shot: A hit that made Cal Clutterbuck’s helmet fly off, a fight, and more than 13 minutes of play.

It was Islanders rookie centre Kyle MacLean who dropped the gloves and went toe-to-toe with Stefan Noesen, author of the game-winner for Carolina in the series opener. Big swings were exchanged, and the fight finished when Noesen flipped MacLean down onto the ice. The crowd in Raleigh lost it.

And yet, the momentum swung in New York’s direction shortly after that.

It took 13:32 for New York to register a shot, but it was the Islanders who drew blood first and earned early momentum.

Late in the first, Islanders defender Mike Reilly floated a backhand pass out to a wide-open Kyle Palmieri in front, and he jammed it past Frederik Andersen to give New York that pivotal first goal of the game.

The visitors kept that momentum: They shut down the Hurricanes on the power-play, and just 29 seconds after that penalty expired, Bo Horvat wired a one-timer past Andersen from the slot to give New York a 2-0 lead.

It sucked the air right out of the building. New York had seven shots and two goals in the first.

The Islanders' goalie was absolutely stellar in the early going, and he’s the reason his team managed to hang on as long as they did.

It was also Varlamov who was called for a penalty in the latter half of the second period, and that’s when Carolina struck for the first time.

On the ensuing power-play, Varlamov made a pad save, and the rebound popped out to Jake Guentzel right on the doorstep. He passed it over to a nearby Teuvo Teravainen, who hammered it home into an open net.

Just like that, the Hurricanes were right back in it, and so were their fans.  

In the second, Carolina continued to press and had a commanding dominance on puck possession, but couldn’t find the back of the net.

At one point, an Islanders line was in the d-zone for more than a minute, staving off attack after attack, and MacLean was playing without a stick after his broke. It was pure survival. Islanders d-man Noah Dobson made a big (shin) pad save with an open net behind him, since Varlamov was still recovering from his last save. It was an onslaught. A storm. A Hurricane, even.

Somehow, the score remained 3-1 Islanders through two periods.

The pressure continued in the third. And that’s when the Hurricanes’ pressure paid off.

With 9:17 remaining, Seth Jarvis ripped a wrist shot in the top corner, blocker side, bar down. “Let’s go!” he yelled, and then he put his hand to his ear while the crowd went berserk. 

Seconds later, it was all quiet again, when MacLean tipped a shot past Andersen, but the call on the ice was no goal due to a high stick, and the call was upheld after a review. It was still 3-2. The crowd loved that, too.

What a rally it was. Sebastian Aho tipped one in at the 17:45 mark to tie things up, with the empty Carolina net and the extra attacker. Nine seconds later, with Andersen returned to his crease, Jordan Martinook scored on an attempted wrap-around that deflected in, giving Carolina its first lead of the game. Guentzel added the empty-netter.

The building that was pretty quiet in the first and second suddenly sounded like the roof was going to blow off.