Recap: Islanders Win Streak Snapped Vs Hurricanes

The New York Islanders winning streak was bound to come to an end eventually.
The Isles six-game heater was snapped on Tuesday night, as a pair of late goals by the Carolina Hurricanes resulted in a 4-3 loss at NYCB Live. The loss was the Islanders first since Dec. 20 and first in four games against the Hurricanes this season.
"It's tough, we were obviously on a roll. We wanted to come back at home and keep it going," said Brock Nelson, who had three points (2G, 1A) in the loss. "This was a good team who was playing well too and it was a big game in the standings and we weren't able to do enough good things."

HURRICANES PULL AWAY LATE:

Devon Toews' second-career goal had the Islanders in a 2-2 tie in the third period, but the Islanders gave up two goals in the final 2:42 to allow Carolina to pull away.
The first came via Justin Williams, who found a soft spot in the Islanders' zone after serving a hooking penalty and roofed a backhander past Thomas Greiss (20 saves) at 17:18. Jaccob Slavin's power-play goal at 18:53 wound up being the game-winning goal, as Nelson scored his second of the night at 19:01 in a last-minute comeback bid.
"You come off the power play and they score one right as the penalty expires, it's kind of a backbreaker," Johnny Boychuk said. "We have to fight for that point and we didn't get it. That could have been an OT point or a win and we let it slip."

Head Coach Barry Trotz said the Islanders "mismanaged" the game on Tuesday night.
"I thought we mismanaged the game," Trotz said. "Right after a power play, you've got to make sure pucks are in [the zone], pucks are out in the last minutes of games, periods and we didn't. We were on the wrong side of people and it ended up in the back of our net. It's on us."
Trotz also said the Islanders committed the "cardinal sin" of allowing a goal in the final seconds of a period, when a puck caromed off Greg McKegg and Adam Pelech to put Carolina up 2-1 with six seconds left in the first period.
"We played well enough to win and poor enough to lose," Trotz said.

GREISS STARTS:

Despite Robin Lehner being on a career-high, seven-game heater, the Islanders turned to Thomas Greiss for Tuesday's game, given his recent history against the Hurricanes.
Greiss entered the game 3-0-0 against the Hurricanes this season, having stopped 109-of-112 shots in the process. Greiss had won six straight games against the Hurricanes entering Tuesday.

FILPPULA RETURNS:

Valtteri Filppula returned to the Islanders lineup on Tuesday after missing two games with an upper-body injury. Filppula played 12:21 TOI.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders kick off a home-and-home set against the New York Rangers on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.