RALEIGH, N.C. — It’s time for the Islanders to get ready for the season. Also.
Matt Barzal’s double-overtime win on Saturday was cathartic, but the Islanders need this to be their version of Dave Roberts’ steal.
So it’s just the beginning of a comeback that will look to take the next step in Game 5 against the Hurricanes on Tuesday night.
“I told them, ‘What do you guys want?'” coach Patrick Roy said Monday. “We can tell all the stories in the world, all the comebacks, what happened, but now it’s time for them to make their own story. And it’s up to them what they want.”
The story the Islanders have written thus far in this first-round series and throughout the season is one of coming close and falling short.
This year they lost 16 times in overtime and suffered an incredible heartbreak on the soap opera.
Empty net goals mean all three losses to Carolina in this series were by one point. Two games were games in which the Islanders had the upper hand, and the third game was a game in which the Islanders led 3-0.
Roy pointed out that their expectations heading into Game 5 are that they’ve been a strong team all year, culminating in a run that led to a playoff berth.
“It’s very good timing,” he said.
At this point in the series, the Islanders know what they’re getting and what they need to do. No major changes will occur. Both teams are what they are supposed to be, and the Islanders know they can get along with Carolina, even in the Hurricanes’ building.
But just hanging out is not enough.
“It’s one thing at a time,” Anders Lee said. “You hear us talking about it, but that’s all we can do. That’s all we can do. It’s about how we’ve been playing, whatever it is, which games There’s nothing more to it than how it should have been. That’s the reality. We’re just going to win. [Tuesday] And risk everything again. ”
In addition to sending the series back to New York for a Game 6 (which, by the way, will be a game with a lot of pressure on Carolina), a win also prevents the Islanders from thinking about their future for another day. It will also happen.
This core has been around for a long time and has put in a great effort to make the playoffs, but it’s hard to imagine things will be the same next year without winning at least one playoff series.
“We have to win this game,” Pierre Engvall told the Post. “You have to leave nothing for the game and do everything you can. Win or lose. You just have to get it.”
Figure it out and write another story.
