RALEIGH, N.C. _ Of all the twists and turns during a tumultuous week for the Islanders, perhaps the greatest possible surprise occurred right at the very end. Thomas Greiss had a shutout.
A team that had not had a shutout all season until Thursday got its second in two nights. Go figure.
It was a leap of faith just to start Greiss, whose play had been seen as one of the weakest parts in the Islanders' orbit, and he responded by blocking all 45 of the Hurricanes shots. His performance, along with a clever challenge of an apparent tying goal for Carolina, produced a 3-0 victory Friday and proved that things might not be as bad as they had seemed a few days ago.
Johnny Boychuk, getting stronger all the time after a long injury absence, put his team ahead and Anthony Beauvillier scored on a breakaway in the third. John Tavares was awarded a goal when he was brought down while he had the puck on the way toward an empty net.
All told, the Islanders won a second consecutive game for the first time in a month and a day. They also moved a point ahead of the Hurricanes in the ever-changing, white-knuckle race for playoff spots in the Eastern Conference.
Greiss followed a shutout Thursday by Jaroslav Halak for a team that has seen defense and goaltending as twin Achilles' heels
There was no agonizing or soul-searching before Doug Weight chose to start Greiss in goal Friday. It was just a short meeting, the coach said, after Halak had a 50-save shutout over the Rangers on Thursday. It was a back-to-back situation and it was Greiss' time to play, regardless of the fact that he had played poorly recently.
"Tonight is an opportunity for us to give him a good group of 19 guys in front of him who are going to play their butts off and have his back," Weight said before the game, noting that when Greiss had performed well, "we haven't played great in front of him."
Exactly one week earlier, neither the team nor Greiss had done much. He was pulled as the Islanders fell behind 5-2 before making a stunning third-period comeback and beating the Red Wings in overtime. It was a different story at the start this time. The team began with a more responsible defensive approach. And when Greiss was called upon, especially during and after a bench minor for too many men on the ice, he responded, stopping all 16 of the Hurricanes' first-period shots.
It was obvious that every play in this game was going to be important, given that coming in, the Hurricanes held the final playoff position in the East, the Islanders were one point behind.
As Mathew Barzal had said after the win over the Rangers: "It was kind of a must-win. We've got to approach every game like that."
The Islanders have to like their chances better when Boychuk is on the ice. During a shift early in the second period, he sprawled out to break up a play about five feet from Greiss, then made two crushing hits. His next time on the ice, he took a pass from Brock Nelson at the right point and ripped the puck past Cam Ward.
That 1-0 edge survived a Hurricanes power play early in the third, and an apparent goal right after that. Jeff Skinner put the puck in the net at 16:00, setting off a big celebration among 15,448 at PNC Arena. But Weight called for a challenge on the grounds that the Hurricanes had begun the sequence with an offside violation. The review agreed with Weight.
