May 1, 2024 | 9:45pm ET
By Anthony LaRocco, TheFourthPeriod.com
ISLES SEASON CLOSES OUT IN CAROLINA
Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello
NEW YORK, NY — For the second consecutive year, the New York Islanders were eliminated in the first-round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes.
After losing to the Hurricanes last year in six games, the Islanders had their season come to an end in Raleigh with a 6-3 loss Tuesday night, losing the series in five games this time around.
It was not quite the same as their OT loss last year, but Tuesday night’s loss was just as crushing. After falling behind 3-1 in the first period that saw the Islanders get outshot 21-4, the Islanders stormed back in the second period tying the game when Casey Cizikas finished a Mat Barzal feed with only 20 ticks left in the period. Winning the third period would have sent the series to a Game 6 back at UBS arena but early in the third period two unfortunate bounces would seal the Islanders fate.
In the waning minutes of Game 2, all it took was nine seconds for the Hurricanes to score the game tying and game winning goals, which ultimately costed the Islanders the series, but in typical heart-breaking fashion for Islanders fans, they topped that Tuesday night. In the span of eight seconds the Hurricanes scored two goals, all but deflating any small chance the Islanders had to get back into the series and send it to six games.
Just 4:36 into the third period with the score tied 3-3, the puck took a bounce over Isles forward J-G Pageau’s stick who was in good positioning and went right to the stick of Hurricanes center Jack Drury and beat Semyon Varlamov to give the Hurricanes a 4-3 lead. Seconds later off the ensuing faceoff at center ice, Hurricanes defensemen Brady Skjei dumped the puck into the corner, Varlamov who was expecting the puck to rim around the net, skated behind the net to stop the puck but unfortunately for him and the Islander team, the puck caromed out from the corner to right in front of the net for Hurricanes forward Stefan Noesen to easily tap in.
The goal sent the already buzzing PNC crowd into a frenzy as the Hurricanes took a commanding 5-3 lead. To the Islanders credit, they did not give up but were not able to muster another come back in them.
After another first-round exit, the Islanders players will decompress and reflect on what went wrong this year and, in the playoffs, before they head home for the off-season. However, when they reconvene in September for training camp the group could look different.
Isles GM Lou Lamoriello will have to decide if this core group that has largely been together since he took over the GM duties in 2018-19 has run its course.
While the Islanders do not have any major UFAs or RFAs to re-sign, long time veterans Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin are pending UFAs. While there is no doubt how much they have both meant to the identity of this team over the last decade, Lamoriello may have to make the tough decision to move on from the duo who rank first and second, respectively, all time in hits.
Another forward whose future is uncertain could be center Pageau, whose name has popped up in trade rumors over the last year. With his $5M dollar price tag and the emergence of center Kyle MacLean, who showed he can fill a bottom-six center role, Lamoriello may opt to see if he can move the 31-year-old Pageau in efforts to get younger and free up a little bit more cap space to spend elsewhere on upgrading the roster.
Forwards Brock Nelson, 32, and Kyle Palmieri, 33, both enter this off-season with one-year remaining on their contracts. While Nelson scored 34 goals this season, leading the team in that category for the fifth straight year, and Palmieri reached 30 goals for the first time since the 2015-16 season, if Lamoriello really wanted to shake this core group up he could look to move one or both in efforts to re-tool the team on the fly but it is unknown if Lamoriello has the appetite to make such drastic changes.
One thing is clear however, the Islanders have failed to take the next step since reaching the Conference Finals in back-to-back seasons a few years ago, only winning a total of three playoff games since then. While Lamoriello has not been too active in the prior off seasons, he cannot once again stand pat this summer if the Islanders are to get back to the Final Four and above again.