RALEIGH, N.C. — As much as Frederik Andersen’s 33 saves in Game 1 against the Islanders is a great story after the netminder returned in March from a blood-clotting issue, the notion that Andersen stole a 3-1 victory is at least a little bit misleading.
Yes, the Islanders had an advantage in the shot count — a rarity against a team like Carolina — but they were not exactly living in the offensive zone or getting consistent traffic around Andersen’s net.
They finished Game 1 with just eight high-danger chances, per Natural Stat Trick, and according to tracking from HockeyViz, had just 11 shots on net at even strength from below the dots.
Only five — including Kyle MacLean’s goal — were around the low slot or crease.
That is what the Islanders spent Sunday focusing on.
“We’re gonna talk about him today,” coach Patrick Roy said of Andersen. “We should maybe have talked more about him before, but we’re gonna talk about him today and see what we can do, [have a] conversation with the guys. We need traffic in front of the net.
“If we do a good job going in front — like, example, the goal we scored, it was a nice wrister at the net, it was deflected and we picked up the rebound — that’s tough for any goalies. These are the type of goals that we might have to have in that series. This is a team that played well defensively so they might not be tic-tac-toe kind of goals. Might be more like, ‘Hey, we need to bring the puck to the net and jam and work to get those.’ ”
It’s not clear that Andersen will get the net again in Game 2, as Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour declined to name a starter.
The Dane has been excellent since getting back into the lineup, but has yet to start in consecutive games.
Instead, the ‘Canes have split their net exactly 50/50 between Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov, whose .911 save percentage looks a tad more vulnerable than Andersen’s .932 during the regular season.
Regardless of who they see on Monday night, the general principle holds true for the Islanders.
As well as they played in their own zone and the neutral zone, they need to find ways to generate more sustained pressure and high-danger looks.
“I think speed, motion, hanging onto pucks. Gotta be smart with puck placement,” Brock Nelson said. “I think they pressure a lot through the neutral zone and the O-zone to kinda disrupt the flow of possession trying to get into the O-zone. Once you get in there, kinda the same thing. Need to have good outs, good support from everybody. D, forwards, good motion. A little bit of everybody kinda goes into that.”
The high-pressure defense Carolina plays meant that the Islanders spent a lot of Game 1 settling for one-and-done looks off the rush.
It also disrupted the Islanders’ penalty kill, which didn’t start to generate good chances until too late into its second and last chance of the night.
“The last power play we had there, we definitely found a little momentum, made a couple good plays,” Mathew Barzal said. “So we’ll definitely have to look at some video today or make adjustments. That’s the beauty of a playoff series, it’s a chess game right now. We have to find a way to be good on the power play, at least give us momentum.”
That starts with hanging onto the puck and getting more traffic in the crease.
“I think trying to create turnovers and being able to attack a little bit more will probably be a focal point for sure,” Nelson said. “I think you want to generate a little bit more pressure and zone time and then have that guy at the net front to create chances, whether it be from point shots or via cycle. So I think that guy at the net front is gonna be a focal point.”