The last time the Islanders faced the Hurricanes, it resulted in an ugly loss that helped seal the fate of Jack Capuano, who was fired less than a week after the defeat.
Interim coach Doug Weight was hoping for a different result against Carolina on Saturday night at Barclays Center.
“Not having it lopsided in their advantage,” Weight said before the game of his expectations.
This one was far from a blowout, but it still ended poorly for the Isles in a 5-4 overtime defeat.
After John Tavares broke his stick on a faceoff, Ron Hainsey scored the game-winner at 2:52 of the extra session to end a back-and-forth affair that saw the Isles fall behind on three different occasions by the end of the second period.
The Isles couldn’t score on a late power play that extended into overtime against the Hurricanes, who have the top penalty kill in the league.
Backup goalie Jean-Francois Berube, playing his first game in two weeks since beating the Kings, struggled at times.
The Hurricanes went ahead midway through the first period when Jaccob Slavin was left alone and ripped one by Berube.
Anders Lee quickly tied the score, 1-1 by deflecting Dennis Seidenberg’s long shot from the blue line at 11:14. It was Lee’s 18th goal of the season.
Carolina nearly took the lead again late in the first, but Justin Faulk’s shot hit the crossbar.
The Isles took their first lead 2:36 into the second as Casey Cizikas crashed toward the net and scored, set up by Ryan Strome and Shane Prince.
It didn’t last long, as Ron Hainsey was left alone in front of Berube and scored just 21 seconds later.
Carolina went up again at 4:37, this time on a wrister by Lee Stempniak.
The Isles came back again. Just moments after Thomas Hickey failed to finish a chance near the end of the second, Brock Nelson blasted one by Cam Ward at 19:00 to knot the game at 3-3.
But the Isles fell behind with just two seconds left in the second, as Teuvo Teravainen scored after the Isles failed to control the puck.
The Isles weren’t done, as Josh Bailey made it 4-4, scoring a power play off a feed from Lee at 8:33 of the third.
Jason Chimera had an opportunity to give the Isles the advantage, but was stopped on a breakaway by Ward.
Carolina entered having won two in a row after dropping five straight.
After Saturday’s game against Carolina — in which both teams entered six points out of the second wild card in the Eastern Conference — the Isles will next play Toronto on Monday in Brooklyn in another matchup of teams scrambling to get into the postseason.
But Weight is mindful of the number of games the Islanders have left on the schedule.
“You don’t want to get ahead of yourself,” Weight said. “[These games] are huge. It’s no secret these games are gonna be big.”
And despite Friday’s 5-4 defeat to the Red Wings, the Islanders have played better in recent weeks to improve their place in the playoff chase.
The Isles were 6-1-1 prior to the meeting with the Hurricanes — all but one of those victories coming after Weight took over for Capuano.
The road ahead doesn’t get much easier for the Isles, who will play 13 of 17 games on the road following Monday’s game against the Maple Leafs.
And for all the issues they have had in Brooklyn, they entered Saturday 16-8-5 at home and just 6-10-4 on the road.
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