RALEIGH, N.C. — Was there enough good in this Game 1 loss to the Hurricanes that the Islanders could walk out of PNC Arena feeling like they had a blueprint to win the series?
Well, they certainly thought so.
“Absolutely,” Kyle Palmieri said following the 3-1 defeat in the playoff opener Saturday night. “I think we saw ways that we could be successful. We saw ways that we could limit their chances.”
The prevailing sentiment in the Islanders’ dressing room was, in essence, just that.
They’d played well enough to win, hit two posts in their two best chances in the third period and lost.
There isn’t much room for silver linings in a best-of-seven series, and the Islanders are well aware of that.
But if they keep playing the sort of defense that saw Carolina limited to just 26 shots on net on Saturday throughout the series, then they think they’ve got a chance.
“There was a lot to take from the game that we did well,” Noah Dobson said. “Just came down to, it was a tight game out there. We didn’t capitalize on our chances that we got. They did. But we’re not gonna hang our heads here.”
The parallels to a year ago, when the Islanders lost a similarly tight Game 1 on Stefan Noesen’s game-winner, are there for the taking after Noesen’s goal 3:44 into the third proved to be the difference here.
The Islanders had every chance to steal home ice in that series but ended up dropping Game 2 in overtime when Scott Mayfield argued a missed high stick, leading to Jesper Fast’s game-winner.
They never led that series and lost in six games.
That’s a good example of how little it can mean to be close in individual games over a best-of-seven series.
And if the Islanders drop Game 2 on Monday, then whatever encouragement they took from Game 1 will be reduced to nothing, no matter how good they look.
But if they can steal just one game down South and get to Long Island on even footing?
Well, then it’s a whole different series.
And if they can put up this kind of defensive effort again, they expect that scenario to be in play.
“We’ve been playing well defensively for a while,” coach Patrick Roy said. “Obviously playing well defensively gives you a chance to win every game and that’s what our guys have been doing.”