ELMONT, N.Y. — Instead of sweeping the New York Islanders out of the playoffs, Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour watched his team give its opponents new life on Saturday afternoon.

Forward Mathew Barzal‘s double-overtime deflection goal won Game 4 for the Islanders 3-2, sending the series back to Raleigh, North Carolina.

“They’re back in it. We gave them some hope here now,” Brind’Amour said. “We’ve talked about how tough it is to win four games in a row, especially with the game being as even as they are. It could have gone either way in the previous three. We expected it to be a long series and now we’ve just got to focus on the next one.”

Barzal powered the Islanders with his first two goals of the playoffs, tying the game in the second period and then winning it by deflecting home a shot from the point by defenseman Robert Bortuzzo at 1:24 of the second overtime.

“We weren’t going to go down without a fight and now we’re in a fight,” said Bortuzzo, who atoned for a critical third-period penalty with the assist. “The plan was to just get one win. We got that, we regroup and we move forward.”

All four games of the series have been competitive into the third period. Barzal said it’s the most tightly played series he has ever experienced. “I don’t think I’ve been in a series where the checking is this tight. It’s on both sides really,” he said. “Every shift we’re out there, the checking is on another level right now.”

For the Islanders, there was no margin for error. Carolina had a chance to eliminate them in four straight games; beyond that, the Hurricanes had a chance to eliminate the Islanders in overtime on Long Island for a second straight postseason, having beaten the Islanders in six games during the first round in 2023.

But coach Patrick Roy said that he didn’t stress those do-or-die stakes to his team during overtime.

“It never really crossed my mind that’d be the end of a season,” he said. “I just said to the guys [in overtime] that it doesn’t have to be pretty. A lot of times in overtime any shot could turn out to be dangerous.”

After the Islanders started the game strongly, captain Anders Lee took a tripping penalty 7:14 into the game. Seth Jarvis converted on the ensuing Carolina power play for the 1-0 lead. The Islanders found the equalizer at 10:10 of the second period, as Barzal scored his first of the playoffs on a shot from above the circles that beat Frederik Andersen.

New York grabbed the lead 1:38 into the third period on a Jean-Gabriel Pageau power-play goal, his first of the playoffs. Carolina’s Sebastian Aho was in the box on a late second-period tripping penalty. But Carolina knotted the game with 5:52 left in regulation. With Bortuzzo in the box for hooking, Stefan Noesen scored his second of the playoffs on a deflection in front of goalie Semyon Varlamov.

It remained tied until Barzal’s goal, thanks in part to 18 overtime saves by Varlamov.

“Awesome. Awesome game. We’re still in it, which is very exciting,” said Varlamov, who made 42 saves on his 36th birthday. “I was just happy because you don’t want to go to the third or fourth overtime. We want to finish the game as soon as you can.”

Roy started Varlamov in Games 1 and 2 but gave Ilya Sorokin the start in Game 3. That backfired, and Sorokin was pulled in the second period in favor of Varlamov.

“What I love about Varley right now is that everything seems easy. He’s not over-moving. He’s square, he’s big in the net,” Roy said.

There’s a lot about the Islanders’ Game 4 effort that Roy loved – especially the fact that there will now be a Game 5 on Tuesday night.

“You have no idea how proud I’m of this group. I mean, they came out and played hard. Even when (Carolina) took the lead, they stayed calm and stayed focused. The guys were determined to find a way to win this hockey game,” he said.

Hamas has released a new video that appears to show two hostages who have been held in Gaza since the 7 October assault on southern Israel.

The two men, Keith Siegel, 64, and Omri Miran, 47, speak in the video against an empty background, sending their love to relatives and asking to be released.

The video was released during the Passover holiday, when Jews celebrate the biblical story of gaining freedom from slavery in Egypt.

Sky News has decided not to show the video online.

In the footage, Mr Siegel breaks down in tears as he recalls spending last year’s Passover with his family, saying he hoped they would be reunited.

Mr Miran was taken from his home in Nahal Oz in front of his wife and two daughters, while Siegel, who is a dual US citizen, was abducted with his wife, although she was released during the brief truce in November.

Some 250 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage during the 7 October Hamas attack, which killed around 1,200 people.

It prompted Israel’s assault on Gaza, as it pledged to destroy Hamas and bring the hostages home.

Some 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict so far, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.

Also on Saturday, Hamas said it was reviewing a new Israeli ceasefire proposal.

Hamas senior official Khalil al Hayya did not share details of Israel’s offer but said it was in response to a Hamas proposal made two weeks ago.

This included a six-week ceasefire, release of 40 civilian and sick hostages, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Israel’s foreign minister said on Saturday that the country’s planned incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah could be put on hold if a deal is struck to secure the release of Israeli hostages.

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The prospect of an attack on Rafah has prompted concern from various countries, including Israel’s staunchest ally, the US.

Meanwhile, Egypt also ramped up its efforts to broker a deal that could end the war.

An Egyptian delegation left Israel on Saturday after talks there about a “new vision” for a ceasefire in Gaza.

This would include the release of some hostages and Palestinian prisoners and the return of many displaced Palestinians to their homes in northern Gaza with “minimum restrictions”, according to an Egyptian official.

Hamas still wants a permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal of Israeli troops but Israel has rejected both of these, saying it will continue military operations until Hamas is defeated and it will maintain a security presence in Gaza.

It came as protests continued around the world calling for an end to the conflict, including pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London and at universities across the US.

The United Nations has expressed increasing concern over a potential imminent attack on al Fashir, the capital of North Darfur in Sudan.

It comes as residents describe the city as “seriously suffocated” and besieged by Sudanese paramilitary forces known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

A spokesperson for the office of UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said in a statement that “an attack on the city would have devastating consequences for the civilian population”.

“The escalation of tensions is an area already on the brink of famine,” with the rival Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) appearing to be “positioning themselves”.

The last of Darfur’s five state capitals not under full RSF control, al Fashir city and its 800,000 inhabitants face an uncertain fate as a local ceasefire negotiated in the early days of the conflict has collapsed.

Mr Guterres has reiterated his call on all parties to refrain from fighting in the area.

At least 43 people, including women and children, have reportedly been killed since the RSF began their push into al Fashir earlier this month, Friday’s UN statement continued, and civilians are trapped in the city.

The North Darfur capital and sprawling displacement camps in its suburbs have been a haven for thousands of people displaced by armed conflict and ethnic violence in the region since the early 2000s, including the last year of war between the RSF and SAF.

Sudan was plunged into chaos in mid-April 2023 when tensions between its military, headed by General Abdel Fattah Burhan who leads the SAF, and the RSF paramilitary, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, broke out into street battles in the capital Khartoum.

Fighting has spread to other parts of the country, especially urban areas and the western Darfur region.

The conflict has left around 25 million people, or half the country’s population, needing humanitarian aid, with over eight million forced to flee their homes, said the UN.

More than 14,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands of others wounded.

Residents have told Sky News the RSF is blocking main arterial routes bringing in goods and fuel to al Fashir, leaving them with dwindling medicine, humanitarian aid and food supplies as increased army airstrikes have hit civilian homes in surrounding areas.

Many fear a telecoms blackout which marked the start of an RSF-led massacre last year in al Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, and December’s siege of Wad Madani, the capital of al Jazira state, as reports mount of an RSF advance.

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An online video shows a large RSF convoy in the desert, with militiamen yelling “lift your head al Fashir, the steel is coming”.

“Al Fashir is unsafe and an attack is expected at any time. Three days ago, a shell fell into my uncle’s house – only 80 metres from my home. My uncle was injured and my cousin’s son died,” said Mohamed.

“The city is seriously suffocated.”

Fighting displaced 40,615 people in al Fashir between 1 and 16 April, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

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‘Where will people go?’

Aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, has said it has responded to three mass casualty events in al Fashir’s South Hospital over the past week and treated over 100 wounded patients.

“The situation is already catastrophic and we are very worried that the escalation in conflict is going to make it even worse,” said MSF spokesperson Kirsty Cameron.

Alarm bells are sounding with little hope of successful intervention.

“Where will people go? People have fled to al Fashir from surrounding areas that are still unsafe. There are no more options for refuge,” said Darfuri journalist and human rights monitor Ahmed Gouja.

“They are forced to surrender to their death.”