NEW YORK — Defensemen Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov helped Carolina start quickly and the Hurricanes hung on to defeat the New York Islanders 3-2 on Thursday night for a 3-0 lead in the first-round series.
Sebastian Aho also got a goal for the Hurricanes and Andrei Svechnikov had two assists. Frederik Andersen stopped 29 shots. Carolina won for the eighth time in nine games at UBS Arena, which opened for the 2021-22 season.
Brock Nelson and Pierre Engvall scored for the Islanders. They are one loss away from being eliminated by Carolina in the first round for the second consecutive year.
Ilya Sorokin, starting after Semyon Varlamov played the first two games, was taken out in the second period after giving up three goals on 14 shots. Varlamov came in and stopped all eight shots he faced.
Game 4 is on Saturday in New York.
With the Hurricanes ahead 3-2, Andersen made a good save falling backward on a shot by Alexander Romanov about 6 1/2 minutes into the third period. The puck lay in the goal area briefly before the goalie covered it up.
Andersen made another excellent save while sitting on the ice, reaching up to catch a shot by Romanov with 5:48 left.
The Islanders substituted Varlamov for an extra skater with 1:55 to go, but could not get the equalizer.
Trailing 2-0 after one period, the Islanders got on the scoreboard early in the second when Engvall received a pass in front from Anders Lee and fired a shot between Andersen’s legs.
Aho restored the two-goal lead at 7:14 as he received a pass from Svechnikov and fired a shot from the high slot past Sorokin for his second goal of the series. That ended Sorokin’s night.
Nelson brought the Islanders back within one late in the middle period. Ryan Pulock’s shot was deflected off teammate Kyle Palmieri in front and Nelson came in and quickly put it past Andersen on the right side with 2:21 to go.
PANTHERS 5, LIGHTNING 3
TAMPA, Fla. — Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves, Matthew Tkachuk scored twice and Florida beat Tampa Bay to take a 3-0 lead in the first-round playoff series.
Brandon Montour, Sam Reinhart and Steven Lorentz also scored for the Panthers, who will try for a sweep Saturday night in Tampa.
Tkachuk had a first-period goal and added an empty-netter with 32 seconds left.
Steven Stamkos, Tyler Motte and Nicholas Paul scored for Tampa Bay, with Paul cutting it to 4-3 with 5:10 left. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 26 shots.
Montour gave Florida a 3-2 lead on a blue-line shot with 3:30 left in the second, with Lorentz making it a two-goal game from the slot at 9:41 of the third.
After enduring several minutes of sustained pressure at the defensive end, Florida tied it at 2 on Reinhart’s goal at 9:58 of the second.
Stamkos scored 44 seconds into the second before Motte put Tampa Bay up 2-1 just 2:12 later. The 34-year-old Stamkos is the ninth player 34 or older to score in each of his team’s first three playoff games, and the first since San Jose’s Patrick Marleau in 2014.
Thirty-two seconds after the Panthers killed off Tampa Bay’s second power play, Tkachuk opened the scoring midway through the first.
