RALEIGH, N.C. — Brock Nelson scored by knocking in an airborne puck that had bounced off the face of Carolina’s Sebastian Aho, and the New York Islanders added two goals that came off turnovers, beating the Hurricanes 3-2 on Tuesday night and extending their first-round playoff series.

The Islanders trailed 3-1 in the best-of-seven series, but staved off elimination by scoring the game’s first two goals and never trailing while playing in front of a rowdy crowd eager to see the Hurricanes become the first team to advance to this year’s second round.

Nelson’s goal stood out. He swung at the puck after it had struck Aho near the mouth and was falling to the ice, batting it past Antti Raanta near the post early in the second period for a wild score.

Pierre Engvall scored midway through the first period after getting a 1-on-1 shot at Raanta off Carolina’s failed clear, while Mathew Barzal took a turnover by Martin Necas the other way to beat Raanta late in the second for the 3-1 lead.

Ilya Sorokin weathered a strong first period from Carolina to finish with 34 saves as New York sent the series back to UBS Arena for Friday’s Game 6.

Aho — who exited to the locker room briefly after Nelson’s goal — and Paul Stastny scored for the Hurricanes, who were coming off a 5-2 win that ended an eight-game postseason road losing streak dating to 2021.

STARS 4, WILD 0: Tyler Seguin and Jason Robertson each had a power-play goal and an assist, Roope Hintz had three assists for the second straight game and host Dallas took the series lead over Minnesota for the first time with a Game 5 win.

Jake Oettinger had 27 saves in his second career playoff shutout. That included the 24-year-old goalie stopping nine shots when the Wild had back-to-back power plays in quick succession in the second period.

The Stars will try to close out the first-round playoff series Friday night in Game 6 at Minnesota, where the home team will be trying to avoid another opening-round defeat. The seventh game, if needed, would be Sunday in Dallas.

NOTES

AVALANCHE: Star defenseman Cale Makar was suspended one game by the NHL for his hit on Seattle’s Jared McCann early in a Game 4 loss to the Kraken.

Makar, last year’s Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP, will be a spectator for Game 5 on Wednesday night with the series tied 2-2. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced the suspension after a hearing with Makar.

“Disappointing, but I really don’t have any thoughts on it besides that,” Colorado Coach Jared Bednar said after the team arrived in Denver.

Seattle Coach Dave Hakstol said after the Kraken’s 3-2 overtime win Monday night that McCann would miss Game 5 and likely be out longer. He did not specify McCann’s injury.

In a video announcing the suspension, the league called it an improper “body check to a vulnerable player.”

“Makar finishes this hit well outside the allowable window to finish a check,” the league said. “In addition, it is clear that Makar knows McCann is not in possession of the puck when he decides to deliver this hit.”

The suspension is another blow for the Avalanche, who played the past two games without forward Valeri Nichushkin for personal reasons and have been beset by key injuries for much of the season.

Makar has led Colorado in ice time in the series, averaging 25 minutes, 15 seconds per game and he played nearly 27 minutes Monday night. He has one goal and two assists through the first four games.

Makar has no history of being fined or suspended since making his NHL debut in 2019.

“Just other guys stepping up. We’ve done it all year with different injuries and guys in and out of the lineup. Lots of roster fluctuations. Just got to move on,” Bednar said. “You’ve got to set your game plan and other guys will have to step up and play well. Obviously what he does has to be covered by committee, all six guys on the back end, just move forward, keep pushing forward.”

The hit happened midway through the first period as McCann had a short-handed breakaway attempt. His shot was saved by Colorado goalie Alexandar Georgiev with the puck going over the glass into the netting.

McCann appeared unprepared for the hit from Makar, which left Seattle’s leading scorer from the regular season on the ice for several minutes and needed help to get to the bench.

Makar said he was unaware where the puck was when he made the hit. He was originally given a 5-minute major penalty but it was reduce to a 2-minute minor for interference after a review.

“It’s unfortunate. I never want to injure guys. Hopefully he’s all right,” Makar said after the game. “I didn’t feel like I tried to finish him that hard, but I feel like if I was in that scenario they would have done the exact same thing. I’m not trying to hurt anybody.”

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