Last time the Carolina Hurricanes were on the UBS Arena ice, they were celebrating as the building emptied out.
Their win in Game 6 of the first round in late April had ended the Islanders’ season on Paul Stastny’s overtime goal, the dagger in a match where the Islanders let a third-period lead slip through their fingers for the second time in the series.
“I cannot give you an answer why we came out [with] the third period that we came out [with] in the final game at that time of year,” general manager Lou Lamoriello said more than a month later, still mystified his team had failed to force a Game 7.
By now, the Islanders have done their best to force that scene from their brains.
But when they face the Hurricanes on Saturday for the first time this season, playoff memories will come to the fore.
That is not just because Carolina was a bar the Islanders couldn’t clear last season, but because clearing it this season would be a message unto itself.
The Hurricanes and Islanders come into Saturday equal at 12 points, though the Hurricanes have reached it by going 6-5-0 over 11 games as opposed to the Islanders’ 5-2-2 record over nine games.
Without defenseman Brett Pesce, who is out injured, and with Dmitry Orlov and Michael Bunting now in the fold, this is a different Carolina team — one still in the process of sorting out some issues.
That might just make Saturday an opportunity for the Islanders to issue a statement.
Despite their record, the Islanders have not beaten any of the league’s best teams, losing at home to the Devils and Avalanche in the two opportunities they’ve had thus far.
The Hurricanes, last year’s Metropolitan Division champs and Eastern conference finalists, might just be beatable.
Since a horror show on the penalty kill against the Devils, in which New Jersey converted four of five times in an eventual 5-4 overtime win, the Islanders have killed 20 of 22 power plays.
“We made one adjustment,” coach Lane Lambert said Friday. “But sometimes — and I said that after the game — it’s really unfortunate, you give up four in one game. It doesn’t happen very often.”
The Islanders did not practice Friday after traveling back from Washington, so there was no update on defenseman Adam Pelech’s status after he left the win over the Capitals holding his side.
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