Playoff Takeaways: Islanders stave off elimination as Barzal shows signs of life

For the first time in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, a team faced elimination on Tuesday night — and that team lived to see another do-or-die situation again in a couple days. The New York Islanders extended their season with a huge Game 5 road win over the Carolina Hurricanes, while the Dallas Stars got the upper hand on the Minnesota Wild in a series where Marcus Foligno continues to be a focal point of the referees. 

Let’s take a closer look at both games after what could possibly turn out to be the final night all 16 teams that made the post-season can cling to their Cup dreams.

Islanders grind one out over the Canes

The Islanders had the 30^th-ranked power play in the regular season and it hasn’t improved in the playoffs, where they entered Game 5 against Carolina with the worst PP in the post-season. But things could have gone from bad to worse less than three minutes into Tuesday night’s contest when defenceman Noah Dobson coughed the puck up at centre ice during a man advantage for the Islanders and Canes captain Jordan Staal stormed back the other way toward the Islanders goal. 

While he was bothered a bit from behind on the break, Staal was able to make a strong move to his backhand. Ilya Sorokin, though, stayed with him the whole way and saved the bacon of both Dobson and his entire team by preventing a Carolina goal that would have caused PNC Arena to explode and would have potentially sent the Canes on their way.

Instead, the score stayed 0-0 and while (naturally) the Islanders did not break through on the power play, they did grab a 1-0 lead later in the first when former Toronto Maple Leaf Pierre Engvall got his first of the playoffs after Carolina got sloppy and turned the puck over at its own blue line.

Mathew Barzal missed New York’s final 23 games of the regular season with a lower-body injury, so it stands to reason he’d struggle a bit to get up to game speed jumping back into action at the most intense time of year. Other than a goal in Game 2, Barzal had been kept off the scoresheet through four contests. He sure looked dangerous, though, scoring what proved to be the game-winner late in the middle frame during a stretch of four-on-four hockey. 

After another turnover by Carolina — this time at the offensive blue line — Barzal whistled back the other way on a two-on-one with Bo Horvat. Barzal — a passer by nature — shuffled the puck with all kinds of time as he glided toward Antti Raanta. Everyone in the building likely figured he was going to feather a pass to Horvat, but Barzal ripped a shot past Raanta on the glove side. It was a huge goal to put the Islanders up 3-1 at the time and perhaps a harbinger of things to come from New York’s most dynamic offensive player as he gets his sea legs. 

Had the Canes found a way to pull this one out, it might have become known as the Sebastian Aho game. The Islanders’ second tally came when an Engvall shot hit Aho directly in the chops. As a bloodied Aho was falling to the ice, Brock Nelson jumped on the loose puck and swept it under Raanta. 

With his team down 2-0, Aho left for repairs and returned with a handful of stitches. Then, halfway through the third, Aho came barreling into the offensive zone, took a pass from Seth Jarvis and snapped a one-timer home from the slot for his third tally of the series. It was a gutsy effort from Aho, but the Isles had just enough to hold him and the rest of the Canes off and preserve the 3-2 win. Carolina, of course, still maintains a 3-2 series advantage. 

Dallas dominates Minny

The Stars absorbed a tough blow in Game 1 of this series when No. 1 centre Joe Pavelski was injured on a heavy hit by Wild defenceman Matt Dumba. That said, Tyler Seguin is certainly doing his best to ease the situation.

Seguin opened the scoring in what turned out to be a 4-0 home-ice win in Game 5, scoring a Pavelski-esque goal by banging away at a loose puck in the crease before finally knocking it over the line. Seguin — who slid up to take Pavelski’s spot between Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz — has three goals in his past two games — both Dallas wins — and four in the series, all on the power play. Game 5 was also the second straight contest that Seguin staked his squad to a 1-0 lead, as the Stars now hold a 3-2 series advantage.

The Game 5 goal came with Marcus Foligno in the penalty box after he was assessed a five-minute kneeing major on Dallas’ Radek Faksa just 2:14 into the game. Foligno ripped the referees after Game 4, when he was whistled for a pair of minor penalties he intensely disagreed with.

Faksa, meanwhile, is likely in an ice bath right now. In addition to the Foligno collision, Faksa also dropped to the ice to block a blast from John Klingberg more or less with the middle of his chest. The big Czech was certainly laying it on the line for the Stars.

Of course, the man who made the most stops for Dallas was the guy who is adequately protected to do so. Jake Oettinger turned away all 27 shots he saw from Minny for the first whitewash of the 2023 playoffs. Up front, Hintz left the game leading the playoffs in scoring with 11 points after kicking in three assists.