Eyes On Isles

New York Islanders Look For Revenge Against Hurricanes

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA - MAY 03: The Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Islanders shake hands after Game Four of the Eastern Conference Second Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at PNC Arena on May 03, 2019 in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Hurricanes won 5-2 and won the series, 4-0. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA - MAY 03: The Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Islanders shake hands after Game Four of the Eastern Conference Second Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at PNC Arena on May 03, 2019 in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Hurricanes won 5-2 and won the series, 4-0. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

The New York Islanders are set to play the team that eliminated them last year, the Carolina Hurricanes. Has the matchup improved?

Last year, the New York Islanders surprised everyone with making the playoffs and then sweeping the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the NHL playoffs. Unfortunately, in round two, the Carolina Hurricanes returned the favor.

The Isles played well for the first two games, arguable better than Carolina, but once the series shifted to Carolina things went down the tubes.

Now, in the very early stages of the season, the Hurricanes are one of the best teams in the entire league. They are 4-0 and have the third most goals for to start the 2019-2020 season.

On the flip side, the Islanders have the third-fewest goals for with seven in three games. Unfortunately, five months later, this still isn’t a good matchup for the Islanders.

Everything that Carolina does well, the Islanders don’t. They can score, they have good possession numbers, they’re a really fun team with high hopes for this year.

If, and it’s a big if, the Islanders want to win and get revenge for their short series last year, they are going to have to get great goalie play. Most likely it’ll be Thomas Greiss in net. Over his last 50 games, no one has a better save percentage on 5v5 than Greiss.

Offensively, they’re going to have to hope Anthony Beauvillier stays hot and they could really use a spark from that second line. It’ll be a tough matchup tonight on the road, one of the first early tests for this team.

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