The New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes kicked off their playoff series today with the Hurricanes taking an early series lead. During the game, Islanders backup netminder Ilya Sorokin was forced to stand due to shenanigans from the Hurricanes.
The Hurricanes home building, PNC Arena, does not have enough room on the bench for the visiting team's backup goalie to sit. As a result, he has to sit down the tunnel where the visiting team exits the ice. Usually, there is a stool there for the backup goalie to sit on, but that did not appear to be the case tonight as Ilya Sorokin was seen standing instead.
Truth be told, it is a bad look for the NHL that not all their buildings have adequate room on their benches for the entire team. That being said, there is nothing the league can do about that at this point. Perhaps they should look into making offseason renovations to buildings that have this problem. Until then though, the Islanders goalies will find themselves in this awkward situation for the rest of their games in Carolina during this series.