For the second game in a row, the New York Islanders were in position to defy the experts and steal a game from heavily favored Carolina in their first-round playoff series, but for the second game in a row, the Isles walked away as the losers.
This time, however, was much worse than Game 1, both in overall performance and in how they went about losing. They were outshot 39-12 and blocked 36 more; even with score effects accounting for some of that, it was a worse showing than Game 1.
Unlike Game 1, the Isles actually had a lead — a big one, in fact.