– by Lauren Foti
A Lot of Sports Talk senior reporter
Follow @LaurenFoti
RALEIGH, NC —With a chance to surpass the Pittsburgh Penguins for first place of the Metropolitan Division the Carolina Hurricanes dropped their game to the visiting New York Islanders Sunday night, 2-1.
Despite the Hurricanes out shooting the Islanders 39-20, Thomas Greiss held strong for the Islanders in goal, making 38 saves on the night.
It was from a strong performance from Islanders Anders Lee, scoring in the first period and assisting on Ryan Pulock’s go-ahead goal late in the second period.
Greiss had a strong game against the Hurricanes in PNC Arena earlier in the season and he had another strong performance Sunday night, denying Justin Williams late in the game to get the tying goal.
“They come on and they’re going to get 40 shots a night, that’s just what they do in this building. [Greiss] was real strong, it was good for Greiss.” Said Islander’s coach Barry Trotz
This performance by Greiss Sunday night and in the previous game against Carolina brought up emotions of frustration in the Hurricanes locker room.
“Listen, Greiss is a good goalie, but he’s not a world-beater,” Hurricanes Justin Williams said. “Every goalie in this league is good, and he’s one of them. We just, for some reason last couple games, we haven’t found a way to get one past him, and we have to.”
The Hurricanes two-game winning streak was snapped with this loss to the Islanders.
“Right from the start we were a tad off maybe and when were a tad off and when we were good we couldn’t find the net. And a couple of break downs. Frustrating is a good word for it,” said Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour of the teams performance.
The Hurricanes will begin a four-game road trip after Tuesday night’s game against the Boston Bruins at home.
