NY Islanders D Ryan Pulock was a hitting machine in Game 1 vs. Carolina

NY Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock made his presence felt from the opening seconds of Game 1, and his physical play on the blue line was felt throughout the 2-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday night. Pulock leveled Canes forward Jack Drury in the opening seconds of the game and set the tone for what to expect from him during the game and hopefully the series.

"That's playoff hockey," Ryan Pulock said of his first-period hit on Drury. "It's a long series, and you try to wear teams down, and it's not that fun getting hit every shift, so you try to be physical as much as you can."

The hit was the first of nine for Pulock, the most he's ever had in a game - regular season or playoffs. Per statistician Eric Hornick, Pulock averages 1.6 hits a game (703 in 428 games) during the regular season, and while those numbers go up to 2.8 per game (159 in 56 games),

"It was the most physical game I've seen him play, and I thought he played amazing," head coach Lambert said after the game of his performance. The nine hits were the second most by an Islanders player in the postseason since 2007, bested only by Johnny Boychuk's 10 in Game 5 against the Washington Capitals in 2015.

Pulock also scored the Islanders only goal of the game 24 seconds after Carolina converted on their second power play of the game with Pulock in the box for a slashing penalty. With the goal, his eighth in the postseason, passed Stefan Persson (7) for sole possession of fifth among Islanders defensemen behind Denis Potvin (56), Ken Morrow (11), Mike McEwen (9) and Tomas Jonsson (9).