3 Takeaways: Islanders Drop Season Opener in Carolina 6-3

The New York Islanders started their season on a losing note on Thursday, falling 6-3 to the Carolina Hurricanes in their season opener at PNC Arena.
Mathew Barzal, Brock Nelson and Anders Lee scored for the Islanders, while Andrei Svechnikov (2G, 1A), Jesper Fast, Jordan Martinook, Nino Neidereiter and Teuvo Teravainen scored for the Hurricanes. Ilya Sorokin stopped 35-of-40 shots in the loss, while Frederik Andersen stopped 25-of-28 in his Hurricanes debut.

"It was one of those first games where you saw a little of everything," Lee said of the opener. "There were some moments where we could have been cleaner with the execution. Things you start to see towards the beginning of the year that we can go and clean up pretty easily. It's just one of those nights where you're facing a good team and they're going to capitalize."
Read Sasha Kandrach's Rapid Recap here. See below for three takeaways from a season-opening loss.

HURRICANES CREATE STORM AROUND ISLANDERS:

The New York Islanders got caught up in a storm on Thursday night, as the Carolina Hurricanes played to their fast-paced, shoot-from-everywhere identity.
Carolina outshot the Islanders 41-28 on the evening, but generated 80 total attempts to the Islanders 48. They shot often and from everywhere, including 22 shots in the second period alone. It's at odds with the Islanders identity of quality over quantity, but on Thursday it worked, as a constant flow of pucks and bodies were streaming towards Ilya Sorokin, who had company in his crease all night.
That traffic led the Hurricanes first two goals, a tip-in by Svechnikov to make it 1-1 and later a puck that caromed off Jesper Fast to put Carolina ahead 2-1 at 13:57 of the opening frame.
Neiderreiter crashed the net to make it 4-2 at 11:28 of the second period, a play that Barry Trotz challenged for goalie interference, but did not overturn. That came after Martinook made it 3-2 Carolina with a quick strike off a turnover in the slot.
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Sorokin still made a handful of quality stops to keep the Islanders within striking distance early in the third, but Carolina eventually pulled away with Teravainen's top-shelf one-timer on the power play at 11:36 of the third.
Trotz called Thursday's game a learning experience for the young netminder, who had yet to face the Hurricanes given the Islanders division-only schedule last season.
"There's going to be a bit of a learning curve," Trotz said. "In this building they funnel everything to the net, they shoot from every angle and cause a lot of havoc. He's going to have to get used to it, you don't see a lot of that in the KHL. Carolina plays very quick, go to the net hard and look for loose change… That's a good team for him to continue to learn on."
The Islanders noted that they needed to do more to help clear the front of the net for Sorokin, as well as limit turnovers, which also contributed to Carolina's first and third goals.
"There were definitely some times they hemmed us in," Lee said. "They're a good team at doing that. They throw the puck wide left and right and get it on net and their D come down and get on top of the wings. If you're not clean with your execution and at times tonight we were messy and it stayed in for our end for a little bit."

TOP LINES GENERATE FOR ISLES:

The Islanders top two lines provided the offense on Thursday night, with Barzal, Nelson and Lee lighting the lamp in the season opener.
Barzal potted the Islanders first goal of the season, connecting with new linemate Kyle Palmieri. Palmieri drove wide and backhanded a centering feed that clipped Andersen's pad right to Barzal who one-timed a shot that just made it over the goal line before the Hurricanes goalie kicked it out. The play was reviewed two minutes later and stood.
Palmieri finished the night with a team-high two assists.
"In the preseason we got the chemistry going and scored some goals," Barzal said of he, Lee and Palmieri. "It was nice to get a few tonight. Early in the season you want to start feeling good about your game. I thought our line tonight was pretty good."
Nelson punctuated an active game with his first goal of the season, driving the net, curling across the crease, corralling his own rebound and banking a shot off Andersen from just over the goal line.
Nelson finished the game with a goal, three shots, 17:32 TOI and winning 44% of his draws.
Lee scored in his regular season return to action, pulling the Islanders back within one late in the second period. The Islanders captain scored from where he usually does, knocking in a Noah Dobson rebound from the top of the crease. Lee, who had three goals in two preseason games, said it felt good to light the lamp in the regular season and start the season on the scoresheet.

SPECIAL TEAMS STRUGGLE IN LOSS:

The Islanders power play struggled to find its rhythm in the season opener, going 0-for-3, unable to generate a shot on goal in any of the three attempts. Both units had trouble gaining the zone on an aggressive Hurricanes penalty kill, limiting their time to get set up in the offensive end.
"Probably not our best," Nelson said. "We knew they pressure hard, they hold the line well, they come at you. They almost try to attack, even though they're shorthanded. You just maybe didn't execute a couple of plays, get a couple of pucks, get a couple of passes, hopefully, a couple of looks, but we didn't do that tonight."
The Hurricanes went 2-for-5 with the man advantage on Thursday, though their second tally came on an empty net. Like they had at even strength, Carolina peppered the Islanders, putting eight shots on Sorokin on the power play.
It should be noted that the Hurricanes were top-three in both special teams last season, so a tough test to start the year for the Islanders, as good as their penalty kill was last season.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders will look to pick up their first win of the season on Saturday night in Florida, where they face another stiff test in the Panthers. Puck drop is at 6 p.m.