RALEIGH, N.C. — At the first time of asking, at least, Mathew Barzal was not a magic fix-it-all solution for the Islanders’ power play.
And after the Islanders dropped Game 1 of their first-round series against Carolina, 2-1, Monday night, going 0-for-4 on the power play in the process, it does feel as though that might have been a bit of wishful thinking.
As much as the abysmal numbers with Barzal out were harped on — 6-for-57, to be exact — the number underlying that is 35-for-222.
That was the Islanders’ season-long mark at five-on-four, which ranked 31st in the league, though four shots in eight minutes of power play time on Monday would be good for a run at 32nd.
“We didn’t have our entries the way we like to a little bit,” Anders Lee said. “Going into the rest of the game, I thought early we got it clean and some tough pucks on draws. It’s just they got it clear, they’re pretty good on the breakouts.
“We cleaned some of that up, we had some pretty good looks, we were able to move it. I kinda liked the plan we had going into tonight. We just gotta execute it a lot better.”
The first power play chance was their best of the night, it’s true, and it featured two grade-A scoring chances in front of net for Lee.
For the next three opportunities, though, the Islanders got next to nothing — including an anemic two minutes after Brent Burns’ slashing penalty with 4:59 to go and Carolina holding onto a 2-1 lead.
It looked a whole lot like the 2-1 Carolina victory over the Islanders on April 2, when Sebastian Aho went off for cross-checking with 4:36 to go, except that power play featured a grade-A chance for Bo Horvat that Frederik Andersen fought off.
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This time, Antti Raanta was not tested once.
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“They’re the No. 1 [penalty kill] in the league in the last few years,” Noah Dobson said. “It’s not easy out there.”
No, but playoff hockey is not supposed to be easy.
And the special teams made all the difference on Monday night, when Carolina scored both of its goals at five-on-four but did not let the Islanders do the same when their chances came.
Eight total penalties is a lot for a playoff game, and this one was called tightly. If that is the tone for the whole series, then the Islanders could be in trouble.
Regardless of Barzal, who settled into the game after looking a bit rusty to start, the Islanders are not about to turn into world-beaters on the power play.
That does not happen after 82 games of being the opposite.
