Hurricanes score only goal of Game 1 in OT to defeat Islanders

NEW YORK -- Jordan Staal scored 4:04 into overtime to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 1-0 win against the New York Islanders in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Barclays Center on Friday.

Staal scored after a shot by Nino Niederreiter came off the end boards to him to the right of Robin Lehner, and his short-side shot hit the left skate of the goalie.
"The puck] came off the wall and popped out to me; I don't know even how it got to my stick," Staal said.
***[WATCH: [All Hurricanes vs. Islanders Game 1 highlights | Complete series coverage]*
Petr Mrazek made 31 saves for Carolina; Lehner made 31 for New York.
It was the first loss of the postseason for the Islanders, who swept the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round and last played April 16.
"The biggest thing is, we've got to focus on the bigger picture here," New York captain Anders Lee said. "Learn from what we did tonight, go back, regroup. We've got a big one in a couple of days that we've got to take advantage of."

Staal has a three-game goal streak for the Hurricanes, who have won three straight and five of their past six Stanley Cup Playoff games. They eliminated the Washington Capitals in a double-overtime Game 7 of the first round Wednesday.
"I'm just trying to get goals and trying to win games," Staal said. "I'm not really sure (where the scoring is coming from), but I can't complain. We came into this game feeling good about ourselves, knowing our game is rising. We need to stay with it and hopefully things will continue to go our way."
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is at New York on Sunday.
"They just play all-out, they don't give up," Lee said. "They played a good, hard hockey game. They were really good on the penalty kill and their defense stood us up really well entering the zone and made it difficult on us getting set up."
It was Mrazek's second shutout of the playoffs and fifth in 19 NHL postseason games.
"These are the games where one bad bounce could change anything, and I think that was the type of game we played tonight," Mrazek said. "We're happy with taking Game 1, but now we have to prepare for Game 2."

Mathew Barzal thought he gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead 17:07 into the second period when he scored inside the left post from the left face-off circle, but the goal was waved off because of goalie interference by Lee.
Mrazek made 11 saves in the first period. His best came against Josh Bailey on a breakaway when he used his glove to deny a backhand at 13:58. Lehner made nine saves in the period, his best coming against Brock McGinn off a backhand at 19:31.
"The thing I give our group the most credit for is somehow figuring out how to match the intensity right away," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We didn't have a bad first period. I thought we dug, considering what I thought could happen."
Mrazek and Lehner each made 12 saves in the second period. Mrazek stopped a wrist shot by Jordan Eberle with his blocker at 1:51, and Lehner denied Greg McKegg his first point of the playoffs with his left pad on a breakaway at 9:58.
"I don't think I have to change a whole lot. If we had converted on some of our chances early, maybe it might be a different story," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said.

They said it

"[The Islanders] play the right way and they don't give you anything for free. They block a lot of shots and they frustrate a lot of opponents. The trick is to just not let them do that; don't allow them to get you frustrated and you'll be fine. If we have to play 1-0 games the whole series, then we'll be patient enough to do that." -- Hurricanes captain Justin Williams
"I think we can get a little more traffic in front of the net and just keep shooting. I think we tried to complicate things a little bit, overpass it sometimes, but it's the first game back. I think we played well for the first game in 10 days. I was happy with the energy we brought, and I thought we played with pretty good detail. It's a [1-0] loss in overtime, it happens. We've just got to get a good night's sleep and have nice day Saturday, and come win on Sunday." -- Islanders goalie Robin Lehner

Need to know

The Islanders won two home games at Nassau Coliseum in the first round. They will play any remaining home games at Barclays Center. ... Carolina forwards Andrei Svechnikov (concussion protocol), Micheal Ferland (upper body) and Jordan Martinook (lower body) did not play. ... Hurricanes forward Clark Bishop had two hits playing 7:02 in his Stanley Cup Playoff debut. ... Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy led the game with five blocked shots and forward Matt Martin led with nine hits. ... The Islanders and Hurricanes each went 0-for-4 on the power play.

What's next

Game 2 of Eastern Conference Second Round at Barclays Center on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS)