RALEIGH, N.C. — The last time the Islanders played at what is now Lenovo Center, their night ended in Game 5 of the first round, when their 2023-24 season came to a forgettable close.
It’s fitting, then, that upon their return, they are hoping Tuesday will be the day that their 2024-25 campaign truly gets going against the Hurricanes.
It’s not clear whether this match against Carolina will bring with it Anthony Duclair’s long-awaited return from a suspected groin injury, or whether Bo Horvat will return to the lineup after missing Sunday’s game, but pulling themselves back to NHL .500 and, potentially, into a playoff spot would get the Isles back on track after a messy loss Sunday.
With Mathew Barzal and Adam Pelech now back in the lineup, the excuses are starting to run short.
Sunday made it seven games in a row in which the Islanders have given up the first goal, with slow starts having become a veritable trend.
Tuesday would be a good time to make a first-period statement.
“We just need to pop the first one. I think it’s as simple as that,” Anders Lee said postgame Sunday. “The other team’s gotten the first one of late. It feels like we’re on our heels. We just gotta go out there and go after that first one right away.”
Whether it’s the first or third period, the inability to play a full 60 has been a constant throughout the year for the Islanders, and goes a long way in explaining why they are currently below NHL .500 and on the outside of the playoff cutline.
Against a high-end offensive team like the Hurricanes, the Islanders can’t get away with any of the lapses which have plagued them recently.
“I thought we got better throughout the game,” Lee said of the loss in Chicago. “But we gotta go after this thing right from the hop.”
The Islanders went undefeated in Raleigh in the regular season last year but lost all three games here in the playoffs.
Sunday was the ninth time in club history that the Islanders dressed eight players with 500 or more games for the team, but the first time since Jan. 2, 1986, per team statistician Eric Hornick.
The Islanders did not practice Monday.
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