NEW YORK _ The Carolina Hurricanes were two days removed from one of the most memorable playoff victories in franchise history.
The New York Islanders had not played in 10 days since their first playoff series sweep in 36 years.
Advantage? For a long time Friday, it appeared neither team had an edge in Game 1 of their second-round Eastern Conference series before the Canes broke through for a 1-0 overtime victory at Barclays Center.
Jordan Staal was the Canes' hero this day, banging in a tight-angle shot at 4:04 of the OT to end a showdown of two unyielding goaltenders _ the Canes' Petr Mrazek and the Islanders' Robin Lehner.
Earlier Friday, Canes coach Rod Brind'Amour said, "Every game, every series, takes on its own identity." He also said it could be a grinding kind of series. Game 1 was quite a start.
Carolina captain Justin Williams said the Canes would be running on adrenaline after the pulsating double-overtime Game 7 win Wednesday over the Washington Capitals. And the Islanders, who polished off the Pittsburgh Penguins in four games in their first-round series, showed a bit of early rust.
But Lehner wasn't rusty. And Mrazek showed no signs of fatigue in his eighth straight start of the postseason.
For three scoreless periods, the only time a puck went in the net was when Mathew Barzal punched it in with 2:53 left in the second. But the Isles' Anders Lee had knocked over Mrazek _ a goaltender interference penalty on Lee.
That came after the Canes' Greg McKegg came an inch or two from scoring, only to be denied by Lehner. Breaking in alone, McKegg went backhand but couldn't give the puck enough lift, Lehner getting his left pad on it for the stop.
Lehner stopped all 31 shots he faced in regulation and got a big save in the third from defenseman Nick Leddy, who turned away a shot by Williams with Lehner caught out of net. Mrazek had 29 stops in regulation.
Early in the third, the Canes' Trevor van Riemsdyk was high-sticked by Cal Clutterbuck. The Canes had four minutes of power-play time, only to have Lucas Wallmark high-stick Valtteri Filppula _ a squandered opportunity for Carolina.
The Canes had another power play in the third after Lee was called for interference, but the Islanders again killed it off. The Canes then needed to kill off a Brock McGinn high-sticking penalty.
Both Mrazek and Lehner had huge stops in the first. The Islanders' Josh Bailey had a breakaway after a Williams turnover, only to have Mrazek smartly glove his backhander.
In the final minute of the first, the Isles' Devon Toews fanned on a pass in the New York zone, resulting in a McGinn scoring chance. But Lehner again made the save.
It was interesting that in the first period, the Canes' Sebastian Aho had a short-handed scoring chance and McGinn a late look at scoring _ Aho's short-handed goal was a turning point in Game 7 against the Caps and McGinn was dancing after the overtime winner.
McGinn did have the biggest hit of Game 1, leveling defenseman Thomas Hickey.
The Canes were again without injured forwards Andrei Svechnikov and Micheal Ferland. Also missing in Game 1 was Jordan Martinook, who has been fighting an injury, as Clark Bishop was in the lineup.
There's a feeling-out period in every playoff series and Friday's game had much of that. Brind'Amour said he hoped to build off the momentum of the series win over the Caps, Carolina's first postseason play since 2009.
Game 1 was a grind. Game 2 on Sunday might be the same. But everything is hard-earned in the playoffs.
