RALEIGH — The Hurricanes are essentially locked in as the second-place team in the Metropolitan Division with a first-round postseason matchup against the Devils all but assured.
But the schedule continues to offer up teams fighting to keep their season alive — such as the Islanders, Sunday’s opponent and one of five teams battling for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The near-certainty of Carolina’s postseason plans hasn’t kept them from winning games — even against desperate teams.
Seth Jarvis had two goals, including his fifth shorthanded of the season, and Dmitry Orlov’s had the go-ahead tally in the third period in the Hurricanes’ 6-4 win over the Islanders at Lenovo Center.
“It’s not easy at the end of the season, especially when teams are battling for playoffs,” Orlov said. “But today, some individual plays (helped) us win. So it’s important to work as a team and try to build our game before the playoffs.”
The game was hardly playoff quality, with goalies Pyotr Kochetkov (27 saves) and Marcus Hogberg (24 saves) both struggling as the teams went back and forth.
New York fell into a quick two-goal deficit only to score the next three. Carolina responded with a pair of special teams goals in the second period to establish a one-goal lead.
Islanders captain Anders Lee tied to game at 4:05 of the third, but Orlov’s slap shot off a face win just over five minutes later put the Hurricanes up for good.
“You’ve got to find ways, whatever way you’ve got to do it,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Obviously, I think it wasn’t the prettiest of games.”
There were, however, some amazing individual efforts.
With the game tied 3-3 late in the second period and Carolina defenseman Jalen Chatfield serving a four-minute high sticking penalty, Jarvis tied the franchise record for shorthanded goals in a season thanks to a three-zone effort.
Defenseman Jaccob Slavin knocked the puck out of the air near the right-side boards in the Hurricanes zone and got the puck to Sebastian Aho.
Aho saw Jarvis with a step on Islanders defenseman Tony DeAngelo and passed to him as he rushed up ice. Jarvis shot to the far post over Hogberg’s right shoulder to tie Kevyn Adams for the most shorthanded goals by a player in franchise history.
“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to the guy I’m playing with,” Jarvis said by Aho. “He set me up a lot this year. It’s fun to be able to do something kind of cool like that, and hopefully I’ve got a few more games try to break it.”
Aho had three points, including a power play goal — the fourth straight game the Hurricanes have scored with the man advantage — for his 28th of the season.
“You can tell that we have scored few as of late because we’re feeling the puck and making better plays,” Aho said. “We have a little bit of confidence there.”
It looked like Carolina would cruise to its 12th win in 14 games when the home team jumped out to a quick two-goal lead.
Forward Eric Robinson won a race to the puck along the right boards in the Islanders zone, and he zipped a pass to the far side post where Mark Jankowski banged the puck past Hogberg for a 1-0 lead at 4:41 of the opening period.
On the following shift, Jordan Martinook centered the puck from behind the New York net to Logan Stankoven, who stuffed it in just 14 seconds after the opening goal to extend the lead to 2-0.
The Islanders quickly got back into the game. First, Pierre Engvall decided to shoot on a 2-on-1 rush and beat Kochetkov to halve Carolina’s lead at 6:10.
Then with Andrei Svechnikov in the box for interference, Islanders winger Kyle Palmieri gloved down the puck and shot past Kochetkov at 11:27 to tie the game.
Engvall gave New York its only lead of the night, again beating Kochetkov cleanly, this time from the top of the right circle 97 seconds into the second period.
But Carolina rallied, with Aho scoring his goal with a one-timer on the power play followed by Jarvis’ shorthanded tally.
After Orlov answered Lee’s tying goal, Jarvis scored his 29th of the year off another Aho pass.
“Good teams find ways to do it,” Brind’Amour said. “Maybe it’s not the way you draw it up, but we have to adapt during the game.”
Notes: Jordan Staal didn’t play due to a lower-body injury. … Tyson Jost had two assists, his first multipoint game since Feb. 15, 2023. … Kochetkov has allowed 14 goals in his last four starts.
