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Isles, Hurricanes kick off season with home-and-home set

Oct 10, 2014 - 2:15 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The New York Islanders are entering their final season before moving to Brooklyn, and the club seems eager to show improvement before relocating to New York's outer boroughs.

The Islanders hope to begin 2014-15 on a positive note, but they'll start the season away from the Empire State when they visit the Carolina Hurricanes for Friday's clash at PNC Arena.

This is New York's final season at Nassau Coliseum, the same building the Isles have called home since the franchise joined the NHL in 1972. The Coliseum's heyday, of course, was in the late 1970s and early '80s when New York raised Stanley Cup banners to the rafters in four consecutive seasons.

Recent history hasn't been kind to the Isles, but there is considerable hope heading into this season. This despite the fact New York has made the postseason only once in the last seven seasons and hasn't won a playoff round since 1993.

Led by star centerman John Tavares, the Isles boast a fairly deep forward group, which also includes offseason free agent signees Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin.

General manager Garth Snow also inked Jaroslav Halak over the summer to help solidify the goaltending position, but the Isles GM wasn't done adding to his roster. New York also added much-needed defensive depth by making a pair of trades last week, acquiring Johnny Boychuk from the Boston Bruins and Nick Leddy from the Chicago Blackhawks in separate deals. Boychuk and Leddy cost Snow a host of draft picks and prospects, but the moves were a clear sign the Isles aren't waiting for the move to Brooklyn to make a push for the postseason.

"Both guys bring something a little bit different to the table that we didn't necessarily have back there," said Isles defenseman Travis Hamonic.

Hope for the upcoming season, however, has been hard to find in Carolina. The Hurricanes, who have missed the playoffs in five straight seasons, were not expected to be a playoff team in 2014-15 and that was before the club was hit with a couple of costly injuries during the preseason.

Jordan Staal, the club's second-line centerman, was the first Carolina player to go down when he suffered a broken right leg last month. He is expected to miss 3-to-4 months of action, and his absence leaves a big hole down the middle of the Hurricanes' offense.

Speedy winger Jeff Skinner joined Staal on the shelf this past weekend when he suffered a concussion in a preseason game against Washington. It's unclear how much time Skinner will miss, but it's worth noting that the 22-year-old does have a history of head injuries. Along with Eric Staal -- elder brother of Jordan -- Skinner is the most important offensive player for Carolina, having led the club with a career-best 33 goals last season.

"It's disappointing, obviously, to a certain degree, but you've got to continue on," head coach Bill Peters said of Skinner's injury. "Hopefully it's something that clears up quick, and we can move on from it."

Elias Lindholm, who has moved to center to offset the loss of Jordan Staal, also is dealing with a lower-body injury, but he expects to play in Carolina's season opener.

Longtime No. 1 goaltender Cam Ward, who anchored Carolina's Stanley Cup title season of 2005-06, will start the season opener. but after last season it seems Anton Khudobin has an excellent chance at supplanting Ward for the starting job. Ward, who Carolina has devoted $6.3 million of cap space to this season, is being paid like a starting goaltender, but the injury-prone netminder will have to hold off Khudobin.

Ward has been limited to just 47 games over the past two seasons and is signed through 2015-16. He went just 10-12-6 with a 3.06 goals against average and .898 save percentage last season while battling lower body injuries. Khudobin, meanwhile, posted a 19-14-1 mark, 2.30 GAA and .926 save percentage over 36 games last season.

Tonight's game begins a home-and-home series, as the Isles will host the Hurricanes Saturday in the final home opener at the Coliseum. Carolina had won six straight over New York before a loss on March 25 in the final meeting of the previous regular season.