Islanders Lose Aho Battle, Drop 4th Straight in 5-2 Loss to Hurricanes

ELMONT, NY — The New York Islanders could not snap their losing streak on Saturday night as they fall 5-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Islanders are now 23-20-5 on the season and remain two points out of a playoff spot. They are now tied with the Florida Panthers in points but hold the tiebreaker (ROW) over them.

LINES

Anders Lee-Mathew Barzal-Casey Cizikas
Josh Bailey-Brock Nelson-Anthony Beauvillier
Zach Parise-Jean-Gabriel Pageau-Simon Holmstrom
Ross Johnston-Aatu Räty-Matt Martin

Parker Wotherspoon-Ryan Pulock
Alexander Romanov-Scott Mayfield
Sebastian Aho-Noah Dobson

Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov

GOALS

Jordan Staal gave the Carolina Hurricanes a 1-0 lead just 44 seconds into the contest as he deflected a Jalen Chatfield for his 12th of the season. Brent Burns recorded the secondary assist.

Jesper Fast tapped home a backdoor feed from Staal to give the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead at 3:52 of the first period.

Simon Holmstrom sparked the Islanders with a highlight-reel goal as he sniped Hurricanes netminder Frederik Andersen after a silky move for his third of the season at 14:02 of the first period. Anders Lee was credited with the assist.

Just 1:40 later, Brock Nelson tied the contest at two, beating Andersen on a wraparound attempt for his 17th of the season. That goal was unassisted.

Hurricanes Sebastian Aho gave his team a 3-2 lead at 16:40 of the second period as he deflected a Teuvo Terravainen shot for his 15th of the game.

Aho got his second at 7:09 of the third period as he picked off a defensive zone pass and came in all alone on New York Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin for his 16th of the game. That goal was unassisted.

Aho scored his thrid goal of the game, an empty-net goal, as the Hurricanes won 5-2.

Canes Aho Gets the Best of Isles Aho

In the battle of the Sebastian Aho’s, one got the upper hand, and it was the centerman from the Carolina Hurricanes.

This is going to get confusing, so bear with me. To make things easier, C Aho and D Aho, yeah?

It was a two-goal performance for the C Aho, both coming against Islanders Aho.

With 3:20 to play in the second, Canes Aho cut to the net and got inside position on D Aho, deflecting a Teuvo Terravainen shots.

Not sure which we love more: the pass or the Finnish 🥵 pic.twitter.com/YeH4Yswt4C

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) January 22, 2023

Then earlier in the third period, D Aho tried to feed the puck across the Islanders zone, but C Aho intercepted it and beat Sorokin to give the Hurricanes the critical two-goal lead.

Seabass stole a goal pic.twitter.com/Olz3BpkdmN

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) January 22, 2023

Islanders Battle Back After Horrific Start

After going down 2-0 just 3:52 into the game, the New York Islanders seemed like they were going to have a long night ahead of them. Islanders head coach Lane Lambert used his timeout early, and slowly but surely, the Islanders found their legs.

Then they found some goals.

In a matter of 1:40, the Islanders got themselves back in the game after goals by Simon Holmstrom and Brock Nelson.

The Islanders ended the first period outshooting the Hurricanes 8-7 and had a ton of momentum heading into the second.

Holmstrom Scores a Heck of a Goal

On Saturday night, with the New York Islanders down 2-0 early to the Carolina Hurricanes, they needed an offensive spark. And Simon Holmstrom provided it with a heck of a move and shot as he did the Auston Matthew’s toe drag in the slot before rifling the puck through the legs of Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce and past the blocker of netminder Frederik Andersen for his third career NHL goal.

Lee finds Holmstrom with some speed and he rips one through the defenders legs and into the net to get the #Isles on the board! pic.twitter.com/a5kgn6yuFl

— Isles on MSGSN (@IslesMSGN) January 22, 2023

UP NEXT: The New York Islanders are in Toronto to face the Maple Leafs at 7 PM