Even if the Islanders never quite had their A-game on Saturday night, the 3-1 series-opening loss to the Hurricanes represents a missed opportunity.
— This was the sort of ugly Game 1 that the Islanders felt right at home in, with the sort of tie game entering the final period that has become second nature for this team during a season where seemingly every game came down to the wire.
So even if the Islanders never quite had their A-game on Saturday night, the 3-1 series-opening loss to Carolina represents a missed opportunity that they could come to rue later on.
A year ago, the difference in the six-game series between these teams came in the margins — the Islanders losing a pair of games in overtime and a third by one goal — and again, that was where Carolina proved its supremacy on Saturday evening.
