Carolina Hurricanes try to clinch series win over New York Islanders

NEW YORK (WTVD) — The defending champions are on the ropes, and the best team in the NHL has another chance to move on to the second round of the playoffs.

All four first-round series resuming Friday night feature a Game 6 with potential elimination. The most surprising team on the brink is Colorado, down 3-2 to the Kraken with the series going back to Seattle.

There are a pair of second chances in the East, with top-seeded Boston trying to put away Florida and Carolina looking to advance past the New York Islanders. Out West, Dallas is on the verge of knocking off Minnesota and moving on.

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HURRICANES at ISLANDERS, Carolina leads 3-2 (7 p.m. EDT, TBS)

The Hurricanes lost Game 5 at home despite outshooting the Islanders 36-22 and dictating for long stretches. Two Islanders goals came off Carolina turnovers, and the puck banked off Hurricanes star Sebastian Aho’s face for another.

Otherwise, it might’ve been the team’s best 5-on-5 game of the series.

“You feel like you played good enough to win, but the bounces didn’t quite go our way,” Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis said. “But for us, even watching video you could tell, we played the way we want to play.”

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Forward Jack Drury is out again after being knocked out of Game 4 on a hard hit into the boards, according to coach Rod Brind’Amour, who didn’t rule out the possibility of going with Frederik Andersen in net after Antti Raanta started the first five games.

There are no questions about Ilya Sorokin being back in net for the Islanders after he made 34 saves to help New York win its first elimination game. Now comes another, this one with home-ice advantage and the chance to push the series to a Game 7 in Raleigh.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.