Mark Jankowski scored the tie-breaking goal with 5:22 left Tuesday night for the visiting Carolina Hurricanes, who tuned up for the playoffs with a 2-1 win over the New York Islanders in the regular season finale for both clubs.
Nikolaj Ehlers scored in the first for the Hurricanes (53-22-7, 113 points), who won the Metropolitan Division and earned the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Carolina will play the Ottawa Senators in a first-round series beginning this weekend.
The trip to the playoffs is the eighth in a row for Carolina, breaking the franchise record set by the then-Hartford Whalers from 1986 through 1992. But the Hurricanes have yet to appear in the Stanley Cup Final during their current run. They fell to the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference finals in both 2023 and 2025.
Goalie Brandon Bussi made 28 saves in the win.
Bo Horvat scored his 300th career goal for the Islanders (43-34-5, 91 points), who missed the postseason for a second straight year despite occupying a playoff spot for most of the four months before a season-ending 4-10-0 skid that started Mar. 19.
The ill-timed slump resulted in the firing of head coach Patrick Roy on Apr. 5. Peter DeBoer went 1-3-0 in the Islanders’ final four games.
Goalie David Rittich recorded 19 saves.
A turnover by Islanders rookie and Calder Trophy favorite Matthew Schaefer led to Ehlers’ goal 3:05 into the first. Schaefer’s pass from behind the Hurricanes’ net sailed through the slot and to Ehlers, who streaked up the right side of the ice before beating Rittich stick side.
Horvat and rookie Victor Eklund collected milestones when the Islanders tied the score with 6:46 left in the second. Eklund, playing in his first NHL game, recorded his first assist when he passed across the ice to Mathew Barzal, who fed Horvat for a point-blank goal.
Jankowski, stationed in the right faceoff circle, scored the game-winner when he sent a shot over Rittich’s glove.
