new york –
Paul Stassney clocked 6:01 into overtime and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders 2-1 in Game 6 on Friday night to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Sebastian Ajo equalized midway through the Hurricanes’ third period. Frederick Andersen stopped 35 shots in his first postseason start.
Cal Clutterback scored the goal for the Islanders and Ilya Sorokin finished with 39 saves. New York were eliminated in the first round for the first time in their last five trips to the postseason.
The Hurricanes advanced to face the series winner between the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils. The Devils are leading 3-2 in Game 6 on Saturday night.
Derek Stepan started the winning sequence in overtime when he intercepted a clear pass by Islanders defenseman Adam Perek. Stepan slid up and passed to Stastney. Stastney fired a sharp angled shot from his line of goal but was deflected between Sorokin’s left pad and both feet.
This was Stastny’s third overtime playoff winner.
After winning each of the first two periods, the Hurricanes led 19-5 in the third period before tying midway through the period.
Sorokin denied Jesse Prudjärvi’s backhand shot into the third with 2:13 to keep the Hurricanes off the scoreboard. On the other side, Andersen saved Casey Sizikas’ shot with him less than ten seconds later. Sorokin made a nice save with his glove over Jordan Martinook in 8:17.
At 9:24 from the left doorstep Aho knocked the puck out of the air with a glove and knocked it past Sorokin.
The Islanders beat the Hurricanes 17-11 in a scoreless second period, with both sides having plenty of scoring chances.
Sorokin scored a point shot off Brady Skye with 1:03 in the second period. Andersen had a shot from between the circles by Brock Nelson four minutes later.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi nearly leveled with Carolina, but his shot hit the crossbar at 7:48. The Islanders then maintained the pressure in the offensive zone about mid-period, with Andersen stopping attempts by Scott Mayfield and Chijikas within 20 seconds.
The UBS Arena crowd erupted in boos when Ajo knocked down New York defenseman Sebastian Ajo with three and a half minutes remaining in the midterm period, earning an interference penalty. The Islanders had three shots on goal during the power play.
New York beat Carolina 11-8 in the first period and had more chances to score.
The Hurricanes were between the first two shots on goal, from Martin Nekas’ attempt to enter the game from the left circle at 1:03 to Brett Pesche’s shot from the right point at 8:31. It took seven and a half minutes.
The Islanders got on the scoreboard when they took advantage of the Hurricane turnover in the neutral zone. Clutterbach received a pass from Ryan Plock, slid down the right side and shot from the right circle to score his first goal of the series at 9:20 past Andersen.
goalkeeper change
After Antti Raanta started the first five games of the series, the Hurricanes turned to Andersen. Raanta lost 3-2 in Game 5 as he allowed 3 goals on 22 shots.
