RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes got just the kind of game they were expecting from the New York Islanders on Saturday as the Stanley Cup playoffs began.

The Hurricanes took a 3-1 victory at PNC Arena in Game 1, which was tight-checking, hard-fought and grinding. Canes goalie Frederik Andersen earned the win with 34 saves.

Stefan Noesen’s third-period goal gave the Canes 2-1 lead and Martin Necas sealed the win with an empty-net goal.

After some heavy forechecking shifts by the Canes, Noesen scored with 16:16 left in the third. Brady Skjei had the primary assist and Evgeny Kuznetsov, who scored the Canes’ first goal, also had an assist.

The Canes cycled the puck and kept the Islanders hemmed in their zone — the sellout crowd urging the Canes on — before Noesen went to the front of the net and knocked a shot past goalie Semyon Varlamov.

Before Noesen’s goal, Andersen made a hustling stop while also having his stick knocked into a corner. Andersen kept Canes fans roaring with other solid stops in the period.

Andersen also was caught without his stick on an Islanders power play but Kyle Palmieri was wide attempting to score. The Canes killed off the penalty, then went on the power play, only to have Andersen have to stop a short-handed attempt after a turnover in the Carolina zone.

The physicality ramped up in the third as the Canes’ Seth Jarvis delivered a crunching hit on defenseman Noah Dobson.

Both teams score in first period

Kuznetsov converted in the first period as the Canes turned their first power of the playoffs into a goal. After Anders Lee was called for holding Skjei for an offensive-zone penalty, the Canes needed 13 seconds to score.

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