The series couldn’t have ended tonight, but given the near-impossible odds of coming back from down 0-3, Game 3 was a must-win to keep the Islanders in the series. Barry Trotz even said, and I’m paraphrasing here, the Islanders needed to win 2 games in Raleigh.
But Carolina fed off their fans and put the series out of reach before the night was done. All we can hope for at this point is one win in Raleigh to send it back to Brooklyn one more time.
The Hurricanes started the postseason 3-0 and their crowd is rowdy, so an early push from the home team was a given, especially since coming home with a 2-0 series lead likely eases some nerves of both players and fans.