The Upshot: Fisherman Jersey debuts; Islanders contained by Carolina in 3-0 loss

Carolina Hurricanes v New York Islanders
Carolina Hurricanes v New York Islanders / Bruce Bennett/GettyImages

106. Final. 3. 109. 0

HOW IT HAPPENED

Coming off the 6-4 win in New Jersey, the Islanders looked slow against a rested Carolina Hurricanes team that hadn't played since Tuesday. Canes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov made 16 saves for his second shutout of the season as Carolina blanked the Islanders 3-0 at UBS Arena on Saturday night. Paul Stastny scored his first goal of the season for the Hurricanes (15-6-6), who extended their point streak to seven games (5-0-2).

Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jordan Staal had the other goals for Carolina. Ilya Sorokin made 27 saves for the Islanders (17-12-0), who have lost three of four at home and now start a five-game road trip, starting Tuesday night in Boston.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Can we say the Fisherman jerseys? For a game like last night, I think we have to. Yes, we know there are some reading this who will never accept that the organization allowed that logo (albeit a 'teal-less' variation) back on an Isles sweater, but the rollout leading up to this game was well done and led to real buzz amongst a portion of the fanbase. They even brought back Nyles for the game!

WHAT WENT WRONG

The Islanders couldn't generate any offense against a Carolina team that was disciplined defensively and didn't allow the Islanders any time and space throughout the game. You can point to the fast-paced 6-4 win over New Jersey the night before as to why the Isles looked slow, but a lot had to do with Carolina, who executed their game plan to perfection and allowed just 16 shots to a team that had reached 40 in each of their three previous home games and 32 the night before in NJ.

"The effort was there," Anders Lee said. "Guys were working, we just weren't able to break any of their pressure. A lot of times they were right up on us. We weren't able to get it past them enough to sustain the pressure and then they won the territorial battle tonight, but all the effort was there. It's just we weren't able to break it."

STATS OF THE GAME

Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, after outshooting the opposition in 11 straight periods, the Isles have only 19 shots in the last four period. The Isles were held to 16 shots, fewest in any game since March 19, 2019, vs. Boston. The Isles have been outscored 5-0 since Cal Clutterbuck scored their final goal in New Jersey at 1:00 of the third period

SOCIAL MEDIA MOMENT OF THE GAME

As we've come accustomed to, Brendan Burke had the right words for the fanbase before the start of a game that had generated a wide-range of emotions for Islanders fans.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Islanders kick off a season-long five game road trip against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night at TD Garden. The puck drops at 7:00 PM ET.