Things are different, no matter much the Islanders want to downplay it.
They’re no longer the underdogs. They’re no longer playing home games at the Coliseum. They’re no longer immune to bad breaks.
And they are no longer undefeated in this postseason after losing Game 1 of their second-round series against the Hurricanes in a 1-0 overtime defeat on Friday night at Barclays Center.
This game was sloppy but tight the entire time, with the Islanders back in action after a 10-day layoff following their first-round sweep of the Penguins and the Hurricanes coming off a dramatic double-overtime Game 7 series win Wednesday night in Washington.
Then, after a bad Islanders turnover in the neutral zone, a bungled odd-man rush for Carolina and a bank off the back wall — there was Jordan Staal, sending one toward the net from a sharp angle. The puck hit the skate of Islanders goalie Robin Lehner and went in at 4:04 of the extra period, giving Carolina an edge in the best-of-seven contest going into Game 2 back at Barclays on Sunday afternoon.
“They win on a s–t bounce. It is what it is,” Lehner said. “We just have to win on Sunday. It’s not a big deal.”
There was another way to interpret it, that being the mistake from Cal Clutterbuck as the Islanders were preparing to rush up the ice. Seemingly looking for the trailer, Clutterbuck’s errant pass went to former Islanders first-round pick Nino Niederreiter, who couldn’t get a shot off on the ensuing 2-on-1, but did get it back and sent a smart pass off the end boards. And Staal was there for a heads-up one-timer that won the game.
“I made a bad play at the end and they score 30 seconds later,” Clutterbuck said. “That one is on me.”
Thus far during this postseason — really, for much of the season as a whole — things had gone well for the Islanders. They deserved to be in this position, just as they deserved all four of the convincing wins over the Penguins.
But now the venue has switched back to Barclays center, a reminder of their imperfect recent history that preceded an organizational turnaround brought on by the first years for team president Lou Lamoriello and head coach Barry Trotz. The 15,795 in attendance were energetic, but were housed in an arena and location with a far different feel from the club’s crumbling birthplace on Long Island.
The ice didn’t seem to hold skate edges well, and the puck rolled and bounced all over. When it seemed like the Islanders finally had scored with Mat Barzal burying a rebound into an open net at 10:37 of the third, it was called a no-goal due to Anders Lee’s goalie interference.
“First look at it, I felt Lee got pushed in there,” Trotz said. “Those are hard. You can’t really challenge the penalty because they didn’t call it a goal. I haven’t seen a lot of those.”
What the Islanders haven’t seen a lot of lately are losses. They were predictably a little rusty early on, but they found their legs after six or seven minutes. Yet they could never solve goalie Petr Mrazek, who made 31 saves while recording his second shutout of this postseason.
Valtteri Filppula had a great chance from in front about seven minutes into the first period, and Josh Bailey probably had the best chance on a breakaway late in the first that Mrazek snagged with a glove.
Lehner answered with a sprawling left-pad save on Greg McKegg midway through the second, reinforcing how evenly matched these two teams are.
Both of them have surprised by getting into the playoffs, and both have surprised by moving on. Now the Islanders have to deal with a bit of adversity, but they don’t seem too flustered. If things around them have changed, they’re trying to remain the same.
“It’s Game 1. They didn’t win the series,” Trotz said. “We lost a game. We’re going to have to respond right back.”