Facing elimination from the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, the New York Islanders were looking for any break they could get in Tuesday night’s Game 5 against the Carolina Hurricanes. That likely didn’t include scoring immediately after a puck hit a player in the face.
The Islanders had taken a 1-0 lead into the second period, when left wing Pierre Engvall, who scored the first goal, launched a hard shot toward the Carolina net. But instead of finding the back of the net, the puck smacked Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho directly in the mouth before falling back toward the ice, and as luck would have it, the stick of Islanders center Brock Nelson. Before the puck landed, Nelson, who has two goals and three assists in the series, flicked the rebound past goalie Antti Raanta and into the back of the net to give the Islanders a 2-0 lead early in the second period.
NHL PLAYOFFS: Results, matchups and schedules for first-round series
Aho immediately left the ice once the goal was scored, but wasn’t gone long. The Finland native returned during a media timeout at 11:52 left in the second — sporting a fat lip.
The Hurricanes would get on the board with Paul Stastny’s second goal of the series at 13:10 of the second period, but the Islanders would extend their lead again when Mathew Barzal scored his second playoff goal with two minutes remaining in the period.
Aho made his presence felt again in the third period when he scored his third goal of the series at 10:28 to cut New York’s lead to 3-2, but that was as close as Carolina would get. aThe Islanders were able to close out the road win and send the series back to New York for Game 6 on Friday.
It had already been a notable series for players named Sebastian Aho. In Game 2, the Islanders’ identically-named Sebastian Aho scored an own goal to give Carolina a 2-0 lead in that game. The Hurricanes went on to win Game 2, 4-3 in overtime.
Stars blank Wild to take 3-2 series lead
DALLAS (AP) – Tyler Seguin and Jason Robertson each had a power-play goal and an assist, Roope Hintz had three assists for the second straight game and the Dallas Stars took the series lead over the Minnesota Wild for the first time with a 4-0 win in Game 5 on Tuesday night.
Jake Oettinger had 27 saves in his second career playoff shutout. That included the 24-year-old goalie stopping nine shots when the Wild had back-to-back power plays in quick succession in the second period.
Seguin’s fourth power-play goal of the series came only 2:22 into the game, eight seconds after Wild forward Marcus Foligno’s five-minute major penalty and game misconduct for a knee-on-knee hit on Radek Faksa.
Faksa remained face down on the ice after the collision with Foligno near the blue line, which came right after the Stars center had knocked the puck out of the air with his hand. Faksa had to be helped off the ice once he got up, but returned to the game midway through the first period.
The major penalty was upheld and the game misconduct issued after officials reviewed the play.
Mason Marchment scored early in the second period and Ty Dellandrea added an empty-netter with 3:57 left.
The Stars will try to close out the first-round playoff series Friday night in Game 6 at Minnesota, where the home team will be trying to avoid another opening-round defeat. The seventh game, if needed, would be Sunday in Dallas.
Contributing: The Associated Press
