The Wraparound is your daily look at the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. We’ll break down each day’s matchups with the all-important television and live streaming information included.
It’s not an ideal spot to be in, but the Islanders still believe they can come back to win their second-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Isles have their work cut out for them starting in Game 3 (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN), as they dropped the first two games on home ice. But the margin between winning and losing in this series has been slim. In Game 1, they lost 1-0 in overtime. In Game 2, they had a 1-0 lead for most of the game but they allowed the Hurricanes to score twice in the third frame.
“That’s the way it goes sometimes,” forward Josh Bailey said. “It could be 2-0 us, but it’s 0-2. We can’t get down. We still feel good about our group and have confidence that we can turn this around… They play very structured. I feel like it’s similar to the way we play. You can’t let frustration set in. We’ve found ways to frustrate teams throughout the year and in the playoffs. You can’t let them reverse it back on you. You’ve got to just stick with it, and we will.”
As Bailey points out, why wouldn’t the Islanders be confident?
Under head coach Barry Trotz, they put together a 103-point season and they totally revamped the way they defended as a team. They’ve received some really good goaltending from Robin Lehner and their better offensive players have chipped in at opportune times (before this series).
Assuming they can extend this series, they’ll have to find a way to use home-ice as an advantage again. In the first round, Nassau Coliseum was rocking and intimidating. It looked like the Isles were invincible there. Unfortunately for them, they’ve moved to Barclays Center in Round 2 and that feeling of invincibility is gone.
But before they can return home, they have to win at least one of these two upcoming games in Raleigh.
“I said to them, ‘Hey, we’re going to Carolina to win two games, plain and simple.’ You can’t win two unless you focus on the first, so we’ll focus on the first and go from there,” head coach Barry Trotz said.
Of course, the fact that the Hurricanes are so banged up should play into the Islanders’ favor. Goalie Curtis McElhinney made a few great stops when he entered Game 2 in relief of Petr Mrazek, but it’ll be interesting to see if the veteran can keep that up for an entire game or multiple games. Andrei Svechnikov, Jordan Martinook and Micheal Ferland have also missed extended periods of time, while Trevor van Riemsdyk and Saku Maenalanen are expected to miss the rest of the series.
[NBC 2019 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]
TODAY’S SCHEDULE:
Game 4: St. Louis Blues at Dallas Stars, 9:30 p.m. ET, Blues lead 2-1: The Stars were able to battle back from three one-goal deficits in Game 3, but they ultimately fell on a late goal by Blues forward Patrick Maroon. As much as they traded punches with St. Louis in that game, they need to find a way to stop chasing the game and they have to get off to a better start. Ben Bishop didn’t have his best game either, so getting him back to Vezina Trophy form will be a key if the Stars are going to head back to St. Louis tied, 2-2. (NBCSN; 9:30 p.m. ET)
TUESDAY’S SCORES:
Blue Jackets 2, Bruins 1
Sharks 4, Avalanche 2
PHT’s Round 2 previews
• Round 2 schedule, TV info
• Questions for the final eight teams
• PHT Roundtable
• Blue Jackets vs. Bruins
• Hurricanes vs. Islanders
• Blues vs. Stars
• Avalanche vs. Sharks
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Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.