Takeaways: Islanders Fall Late to Carolina 5-3

The New York Islanders battled back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits, but a comeback effort fell short as William Carrier scored with 5:08 remaining in the third period as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Islanders 5-3 at UBS Arena on Thursday.  

Brayden Schenn (1G, 1A) and Victor Eklund (1G, 1A) each scored tying goals in a game that featured Mitchell Chaffee’s first goal as an Islander, but ultimately left the Isles empty-handed.  

“We just give ourselves a chance every single night,” Schenn said. “We play hard, we play the right way, we got good goaltending. It's a group of guys who all play hard for one another in here, and we're doing that and unfortunately, I liked our game tonight. We deserved a point, probably two and unfortunately, it didn't go our way late.”

Logan Stankoven, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Andrei Svechnikov and Carrier – who scored his first of the season in a two-point effort – recorded the Hurricanes’ goals before Jalen Chatfield’s empty-netter.  

Sebastian Aho (2A), Svechnikov (1G, 1A) and Chatfield (1G, 1A) all recorded multi-point games as the Hurricanes recorded 39 shots on goal.  

Semyon Varlamov made a season-high 34 saves and made a myriad of critical stops to keep the Islanders within striking distance against the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

The Hurricanes scored on two of their first three shots on goal during the opening 3:20 of the first period and led 2-0 after one. Stankoven scored his 11th goal of the season 57 seconds into the opening stanza on the same play Jackson Blake tallied his 14th assist of the year. Kotkaniemi made it 2-0 2:23 later on a redirection from Jordan Martinhook’s pass. 

Chaffee scored 3:40 in the opening minutes of the second period and Schenn found the equalizer 2:04 after. Chaffee recorded his first NHL goal since March 4, 2025, for the opening Isles goal and Schenn scored on a sensational wraparound to tie it 2-2. Schenn has a goal in three of the last five games. 

The Canes regained a 3-2 lead with Svechnikov’s tally one minute after Schenn’s fifth of the season as the teams combined for three goals in 3:04.  

Eklund scored his fourth of the season to tie it at 3-3 as Schenn – who recorded his third multi-point game of the year – took advantage of a carrom off the wall and fed Eklund between the circles.  

The Isles second line of Eklund, Schenn and Emil Heineman, who added an assist, combined for five points and Head Coach Pete DeBoer called that trio the Islanders top line.

Brandon Bussi stood tall in the first period with a pad save to erase a one-on-one opportunity from Anthony Duclair and stopped Heineman’s breakaway bid.  

The Islanders weren’t able to sustain consistent offensive zone pressure in the first period – a credit to the Hurricanes defensive structure – but they outshot the Canes 10-8 and went 14-for-17 (82.4 percent) at the faceoff dot.  

“I actually didn't mind our first,” Schenn said. “The first couple minutes no, but after that, I thought we had some chances. We had some breakaways, we had some odd mans. I thought we at least deserved one in the first and it's good to see our group be resilient and battle back... It's just can't be giving away points any time of the year late in games.” 

Matthew Schaefer recorded the primary assist on Chaffee’s tip-in goal for his 11th helper of the year. Schaefer has nine points (4G, 5A) in his last eight games and at least one point in 10 of the last 12 contests.  

Eklund’s late second period equalizer created a 3-3 stalemate until the final minutes as Carrier found a loose puck in front of Varlamov for the game-winner.  

The Islanders went 0-for-4 on their power play opportunities and had just one scoring chance in the third period at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick.  

“If you look lead wide right now, it's a lot of heavy pressure, three-point pressure we call it where guys are flexing out, and essentially what they're trying to do is push you away from the net,” Schenn said. “I think right now we're making one or two good plays, and then we really need that play to execute to find the open man. We're just not making it, it’s hitting a stick, or we're not seeing it, and here's a bunch of stuff there where we need to clean up.”

Varlamov Keeps Islanders Within Striking Distance 

After recording his first win in 712 days on Oct. 27 against the Nashville Predators, Varlamov played in his 178th game with the Islanders and is in sole possession of eighth for games played by goaltender in franchise history.  

Varlamov and Bussi traded punches across the ice with signature stops and as the former had an acrobatic save sprawling across the blue paint to rob a one-timer. Moments later, Bussi robbed Palmieri in the slot.  

After the two early Carolina goals, Varlamov injected energy into the Isles and UBS Arena who had more boisterous cheers of “Varly” as the saves added up.  

Varlamov had 34 saves, his highest total in a game since April 6, 2024.  

“I thought he battled his ass off for us tonight,” DeBoer said of Varlamov. 

“He made some big saves,” Schenn added. “Especially them, they’re a shot volume team, put everything at net. If you look at the scoreboard, playing Carolina against any team in the league, they usually outshoot their teammates (opponents) by putting bodies and pucks to the net and he made some big saves for us tonight and gave us a chance when, especially when they're up two nothing.”

Chaffee, Isles Fourth Line Provides a Spark  

Despite the loss, it was a memorable night for Chaffee who scored his first goal with the Islanders.  

“It's disappointing after you know tonight and how we finished it off there,” Chaffee said. “I thought we played really well. I thought for a majority of the game that we controlled it, especially five on five... it sucks scoring and not and not winning, so that's a tough one.” 

It was a strong performance from the Isles fourth line who got the group on the board with Chaffee’s tally early into the second period.  

The fourth line was the catalyst for the Isles who took much of Carolina’s stylistic DNA and put it back at them as the Islanders out hit Carolina 26-16, created opportunities off the forecheck and dominated the faceoff battle by going 40-for-61 (65.6 percent) 

“I thought tonight they were relentless,” DeBoer said of the fourth line. They tilted the ice for us, and we haven't had that much this year. It was a really good sign. They got on top of pucks, they were hard to play against, they got on the forecheck which is what they have to do.”

Next Game

The Isles host the New Jersey Devils on Saturday for Military Appreciation Night. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.