Hurricanes at Islanders
The New York Islanders look to strengthen their bid for a postseason berth and deliver a blow to the aspirations of the visiting Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday when the Metropolitan Division rivals meet for the second time in four days. Cal Clutterbuck scored his second goal of the contest in overtime on Saturday as New York posted just its third win in 10 outings (3-5-2) with a 4-3 victory over Carolina.
The Islanders, who reside three points behind third-place Pittsburgh in the Metropolitan Division, are clinging to the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with a two-point lead over Philadelphia. "I told everybody if we put ourselves in these shoes when the day of training camp opened, we'd take it, where we are," coach Jack Capuano told the team's website on Monday. The Hurricanes have answered a five-game skid with a 2-0-1 stretch to sit within six points of the Flyers with six contests remaining on their schedule. "I like where we're at," coach Bill Peters told the team's website on the heels of Sunday's 3-2 triumph over New Jersey. "We believe we can still get in. We're going to grind, we're going to keep going. We're going to keep playing hard. We're just going to continue to do what we do."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Carolinas, MSG-Plus (New York), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (33-28-15): Victor Rask extended his goal-scoring streak to a career-high three games and reached the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his career by scoring twice on Sunday. "This is the end of the season when you want to play your best, and I feel good," the 23-year-old Swede told the Raleigh News & Observer. Rask tallied twice in Carolina's 6-3 victory over New York on Feb. 13 and scored against the Islanders on Saturday.
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (40-25-9): Kyle Okposo scored his fourth goal in eight games on Saturday to move within one point of captain John Tavares (58) for the team lead. "We just have to keep winning games," Okposo told the team's website. "We have eight games left, we have to win, we have to get points. That's how we're going to do it, getting back to work and grinding it out." Nikolay Kulemin is starting to find his offensive touch, scoring in back-to-back contests over the weekend after mustering just one point - an assist - in his previous 21 games.
OVERTIME
1. Carolina G Cam Ward is 19-4-3 with one shutout in his career versus New York.
2. The Islanders are 1-for-18 on the power play in the last 10 contests.
3. Hurricanes LW Nathan Gerbe was nominated for the Masterton Trophy for the second straight year while New York named D Travis Hamonic as its nominee.