The New York Islanders begin their 2023 playoff journey on Monday night in Raleigh where they take on the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
This is the Islanders’ first playoff game in 661 days when they lost a heartbreaking Game 7 in the Stanley Cup semifinals 1-0 to the eventual champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
With a retooled attack that now has Mathew Barzal back in the fold, the Islanders have an opportunity to make an early statement as the underdog against a Hurricanes team that struggled down the stretch of the regular season, going 9-7-1 in their final 17 games.
New York will also be facing Hurricanes backup Antti Raanta, who was nearly unbeatable this season behind Frederik Andersen. He’ll try to outduel Islanders star goalie and projected Vezina Trophy finalist Ilya Sorokin.
Islanders vs. Hurricanes Game 1 information
- Date: Monday, April 17
- Time: 7 p.m. ET
- TV: MSGN, ESPN2
- Venue: PNC Arena, Raleigh, NC
Islanders Projected Lines
Anders Lee – Mathew Barzal – Bo Horvat
Pierre Engvall – Brock Nelson – Kyle Pamieri
Zach Parise – Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Hudson Fasching
Mat Martin – Casey Cizikas – Cal Clutterbuck
Adam Pelech – Ryan Pulock
Sebastian Aho – Scott Mayfield
Samuel Bolduc – Noah Dobson
Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov
Hurricanes Projected Lines
Tuevo Teravainen – Sebastian Aho – Seth Jarvis
Stefan Noesen – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Martin Necas
Jordan Martinook – Jordan Staal – Jesper Fast
Jack Drury – Paul Stastny – Derek Stepan
Jaccob Slavin – Brent Burns
Brady Skjei – Brett Pesce
Shayne Gostisbehere – Jalen Chatfield
Antti Raanta
Frederik Andersen
X-Factor: Mathew Barzal
It’s the obvious choice — and some could call it an easy one — but there’s no other way around it. The Islanders had received invaluable depth scoring while Barzal was out for the final two months of the regular season and it will be imperative to get similar production in the postseason, but the first line has to come out ready to fly. Bo Horvat’s production was extremely limited without Barzal, scoring just four goals in the final 24 games of the regular season. If the two can, as Horvat described, “rekindle” their partnership, the Islanders’ top six looks much more imposing given Brock Nelson’s ability to show up for the big game anchoring the second line.
