3 Keys: Hurricanes at Islanders, Game 6 of Eastern 1st Round

(1M) Hurricanes at (WC1) Islanders
Eastern Conference First Round, Game 6
Carolina leads best-of-7 series 3-2
7 p.m. ET; TBS, SN360, TVAS2, MSGSN, BSSO

ELMONT, N.Y. --The Carolina Hurricanes will have their second chance at eliminating the New York Islanders in Game 6 of Eastern Conference First Round at UBS Arena on Friday.
The Islanders stayed alive with a 3-2 victory in Game 5 at Carolina on Tuesday, but the Hurricanes are undeterred.
"I think it's just, 'OK, now we have to play another one,'" Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We're going to go about it and try to win that one. So I don't really think there's any more or less nerves or anything like that. There's always going to be that. It's the playoffs and you're trying to win every night.
With one more win, Carolina would advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third straight season. They already won once at UBS Arena in the series, a 5-2 victory in Game 4 on Sunday, and believe they can do it again.
"We're confident," Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce said. "Obviously we didn't want the outcome from last game, but we liked our game. We like all aspects of our game right now, special teams included. So we've got to continue it tonight."
RELATED: [Complete Hurricanes vs Islanders series coverage]
The Islanders are feeling better about themselves after avoiding elimination once. If they can do it again Friday, they'd push the series to a deciding Game 7 at PNC Arena on Sunday.
"Things are good," Islanders forward Casey Cizikas said. "We're excited for what's up next here. We know the challenge we have ahead of us. It's do or die again, and we're excited as a group to try and keep this thing going."
The Islanders can force a Game 7 after facing 3-1 series deficit for the fifth time in their history. Their .739 winning percentage (17-6) when facing elimination on home ice is the highest in NHL history.
Teams that lead 3-2 are 339-92 (78.7 percent) winning a best-of-7 series in the playoffs, including 7-4 last season.
Here are 3 keys for Game 6:

1. Carolina's goalie decision

Brind'Amour would not reveal whether Antti Raanta or Frederik Andersen will start in net for the Hurricanes.
"That's the only one that I'm not going to disclose just for the [heck] of it," Brind'Amour said. "There's just nothing else to have fun about, so I'll let you guys sweat it out."
Raanta (3-2, 2.59 goals-against average, .906 save percentage) played the first five games of the series, with Andersen being unavailable for Games 2-4 because of an illness and an undisclosed injury. However, Andersen is healthy now.
It would be Andersen's first postseason start for Carolina after a torn MCL kept him out of the playoffs last season. He was 21-11-1 with a 2.48 GAA, .903 save percentage and one shutout in 34 regular-season games (33 starts).

2. Adjust on the penalty kill

There has been a lot of focus on each team's power play during the series, but the penalty kills have been equally important. Carolina was second in the NHL on the penalty kill at 84.4 percent during the regular season and has continued that success in this series, killing 14 of 15 Islanders power plays (93.3 percent). The Hurricanes adjusted to the Islanders' tweak to focus more on point shots and deflections, which led to Kyle Palmieri's winning deflection goal in Game 3, and have killed off all six power plays in the past two games.
After allowing power-play goals on the Hurricanes' first two chances of the series, the Islanders killed off 11 of the next 12. But they've had trouble the past two games shutting down backdoor plays, which led two power-play goals in Game 4 and another that was disallowed after an offside challenge in Game 5.
"You [have] to think about making the adjustments to see what they're trying to get now and they're watching video just like we are," Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield said. "So it's making those little adjustments, and then when you get a chance to battle it out, you battle it out."

3. Sorokin

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin (2-3, 2.77 GAA, .923 save percentage) was a difference-maker in Game 5, making 34 saves, including stopping all 11 shots he faced in the first period when the Hurricanes made an early push.
The Hurricanes will try to make things for difficult for Sorokin in Game 6. They can look to their success in Game 4, when they scored five goals on 29 shots against him.
"He gives us confidence. There's no question about it," Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. "We're very fortunate to have him and it certainly is a benefit for us."

Hurricanes projected lineup

Mackenzie MacEachern -- Sebastian Aho -- Seth Jarvis
Jordan Martinook -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Martin Necas
Stefan Noesen -- Jordan Staal -- Jesper Fast
Derek Stepan -- Paul Stastny -- Jesse Puljujarvi
Jaccob Slavin -- Brent Burns
Brady Skjei -- Brett Pesce
Shayne Gostisbehere -- Jalen Chatfield
Antti Raanta
Frederik Andersen
Scratched: Pyotr Kochetkov
Injured:Jack Drury (upper body), Teuvo Teravainen (broken hand)

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee -- Bo Horvat -- Mathew Barzal
Pierre Engvall -- Brock Nelson -- Kyle Palmieri
Zach Parise -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Hudson Fasching
Matt Martin -- Casey Cizikas -- Cal Clutterbuck
Adam Pelech -- Ryan Pulock
Sebastian Aho
-- Scott Mayfield
Alexander Romanov -- Noah Dobson
Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov
Scratched:Josh Bailey, Samuel Bolduc, Simon Holmstrom, Ross Johnston, Parker Wotherspoon
Injured:Oliver Wahlstrom (lower body)

Status report

Neither team held a morning skate. ... Andersen practiced Thursday in one goal, while Raanta and Kochetkov split time in the other goal. ... The Islanders practiced Thursday with the same forward lines and defense pairs they used in Game 5.