February 12, 2013
Capuano 'thought some guys were soft' in Isles' loss to 'Canes
by Christian Arnold/Correspondent
Isles coach Jack Capuano wasn't pleased with his club's effort Monday against Carolina. (Getty Images)
The power play had its’ power back, but the five-on-five play left a lot to be desired as the Islanders dropped their fifth game in a row with a 6-4 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes Monday night.
“We just didn’t have enough. It’s obviously frustrating,” John Tavares said after the game.
It was another tough loss for a team that could ill afford to lose Monday night’s contest against the ‘Canes. The Islanders took and lost the lead three separate times in the course of 60 minutes and watched as stellar special teams performances went by the wayside.
“We weren’t getting enough five-on-five, obviously,” Brian Strait said after the loss. “Power play was going, PK was there when we needed it and it came down to five-on-five play. And they obviously beat us in that aspect.”
All four Islander goals came on the power play. The opening goal by Frans Nielsen came after Jordan Staal took a slashing penalty just 1:18 into the game. Nearly a minute and a half into the man advantage, the Isles converted for the early lead.
Former Islander Tim Wallace would even it up at one midway in the first period after he got a shot by starter Rick DiPietro.
John Tavares made it 2-1 off his seventh goal of the season at the 5:23 mark, but just 29 seconds later, Jeff Skinner answered back for the Canes to tie it up once again.
Matt Moulson one-timed a shot past Cam Ward to make it 3-2 Islanders, again a power play goal, and again the Canes tied the game. Jiri Tlusty would tip in the tying goal.
Alexander Semin’s shot gave the Canes their first lead of the game. It bounced off Islander Travis Hamonic and into the net. Then later Eric Staal scored what proved to be the game winner at the 9:09 mark of the third.
The Islanders gave the Canes a bit of a scare after cutting the lead to one when Moulson scored again on the power play, but Tlusty would score on the empty net to secure the 6-4 win.
“For us to be successful we have to have all 20 guys going,” a frustrated Jack Capuano said after the game. “I thought some guys were soft tonight. We didn’t win many puck battles. I mean, we had some guys who played hard. We got a couple bad bounces, but at the same time we’re the type of team that we need all 20 guys and I don’t think we had that tonight.”
That was something the Islanders coach has been mentioning in his last few postgame interviews.
But after another tough loss, the Islanders know they have to get back to what made them successful.
“The power play did a great job tonight,” Strait said. “They went four for five, so it’s not on them. It’s just as a team… we have to be better five-on-five and we have to be more committed to getting pucks to the net and getting pucks deep and doing the little things that we had success with.”
Christian Arnold can be reached at feedback@nyhockeyjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @CA_NYHockey.
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