Hurricanes spoil Isles' homecoming with 8-4 win (Mar 13, 2017)
NEW YORK (AP) Jaccob Slavin and the Carolina Hurricanes ruined the New York Islanders' awaited homecoming with an offensive barrage Monday night.
Slavin recorded his first NHL hat trick, Jeff Skinner and Justin Faulk each scored twice and Carolina beat New York 8-4 to snap the Islanders' 11-game home point streak. Slavin's third goal came late in the third period on a shot that sneaked through the legs of Thomas Greiss.
''It feels pretty good. It's obviously nice to score some goals,'' Slavin said. ''They don't come by a lot for myself. ... It's definitely nice to get those three in.''
Joakim Nordstrom also scored for the Hurricanes, and Cam Ward made 23 stops.
Ryan Strome, Stephen Gionta, Calvin de Haan and Joshua Ho-Sang scored for the Islanders. Jean-Francois Berube made nine saves on 13 shots before being pulled in the second period, and Greiss made 16 saves in relief.
New York capped a nine-game trip on Saturday at St. Louis and returned to Barclays Center with its longest home point streak since 1982. There was no home-ice advantage in this one, though, as Carolina broke things open with four straight goals during the second period.
The Islanders led 3-2 before Carolina's burst, which began when Faulk tied it 6:51 into the period.
Skinner and Faulk then scored 56 seconds apart, with Skinner going five-hole to beat Berube at 8:02 and Faulk beating Greiss on the goalie's first shot at 8:58.
Slavin added his second goal at 11:45 after forcing Brock Nelson to turn over the puck in the offensive zone.
''You want to have good responses when the other team gets the lead,'' Skinner said. ''You're sort of fighting to get back in it. Some nice plays individually, obviously (Slavin's) short-handed goal was a pretty nice individual effort. It's nice on the road to be able to have a response like that.''
Ho-Sang pulled the Islanders back within two goals at 13:50 of the period, but Skinner tallied his second goal of the night at 3:43 of the third on a penalty shot to put Carolina back up by three goals.
In the first period, Strome put New York ahead before Slavin and Nordstrom scored 26 seconds apart for a 2-1 Hurricanes lead. Gionta tied it late in the first and de Haan put New York ahead early in the second.
''The first seven minutes, I thought we would win 8-0,'' Islanders interim coach Doug Weight said. ''We got the puck in and we were moving our feet in the offensive zone. We looked like we hadn't missed a beat, and that was it. The last 53 was completely an about-face. ... We were just bad all over the ice, goaltenders included. There's no hiding this one that's for sure.''
The Islanders and Hurricanes will play the second leg of a home-and-home on Tuesday night in Raleigh, North Carolina. The two sides quickly departed Brooklyn with an impending snowstorm expected to hit the region.
NOTES: The Islanders scratched C Alan Quine, C Shane Prince, D Scott Mayfield and D Johnny Boychuk. Quine has missed seven games with an upper-body injury and Boychuk has been out of four games with a lower body injury. ... Ho-Sang appeared in his first game at home for the Islanders. ... Carolina F Lucas Wallmark made his NHL debut. The 21-year-old leads AHL Charlotte in goals this season with 21. ... LW Brock McGinn missed his sixth game for Carolina with an upper-body injury, and Phillip Di Giuseppe missed his third game with an upper-body injury. D Ryan Murphy and LW Valentin Zykov were also scratched for the Hurricanes.
UP NEXT
Islanders: Travel to Carolina for the second game of a home-and-home on Tuesday.
Hurricanes: Return home to face the Islanders at PNC Arena.
