The New York Islanders let out a sigh of relief after ending a nine-game road trip. Some questionable goaltending made for some dead silence midway through their return to Brooklyn on Monday.
After a busy 2-2 first period, Calvin de Haan scored an especially questionable goal against Cam Ward, giving the Islanders an early 3-2 lead in the middle frame. Ward would be far from the netminder who was most exposed in the second period, however.
Justin Faulk and Jeff Skinner scored goals to chase Jean-Francois Berube and give the Hurricanes a 4-3 lead. Berube got the hook after that Skinner tally, but Thomas Greiss hasn’t been able to stop the bleeding.
Faulk scored his second goal of the night (and period) on the first shot Greiss faced, then Jaccob Slavin made it 6-3 moments later. The Hurricanes ended up scoring four goals in less than five minutes.
To underscore how odd this game has been so far, Joshua Ho-Sang made a nice deflection for another goal to slim Carolina’s lead down to 6-4. It’s the second NHL goal for Ho-Sang and his first at home.
And 5 times in 14 games Isles had to change goalies.
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) March 14, 2017