Jack Capuano wasn’t promising immediate changes, but🐭 he was posing the possibility of significant alterations﷽ to his lineup.
The message was simple: It’s getting late early, and the 🦄Islanders can’t afford to wait much longer for certain players.
“I’m losing my patience a little bit with some of these guys, and you have to hold guys accountable,” the Islanders coach said after his team’s🐷 second straight loss, this a 4-2 setback to the Capitals at Barclays Center Tuesday night. “We got some decisions that we need to make.”
Following a six-game point streak in which they went 5-0-1, the Islanders have dropped two straight, both after being tied after two periods. Saturday’s 6-2 loss in Columbus was ♏ugly and worrisome, while Tuesday was more frustrating, dropping the Isles back into the Eastern Conference cell𝔉ar.
Capuano declined to name names, but it’s not hard to figure out he was likely referring to forwards such as Andrew Ladd, Jason Chimera and Ryan Strome, among others, who have done very little. Capuano doesn’t believe it’s necessarily a💖 lack of effort. He sees his players trying hard. That, however, hasn’t been nea💙rly enough so far.
He isn’t sure if there will be changes befo🐽re the next game, Thursday against the Blackhawks in Brooklyn, but said the idea of giving certain players a game off has been considered
“It’s frustrating, because you know the ability is there. I don’t know where it’s gone,” Capuano said. “To me, I’m talking about keeping the puck onღ your stick, possessing the puck, just not throwing it away. Getting the puck and just handing it back to the other team? Where’s the poise, where’s the confidence? Those are the things I’m talking about. I’m talking about the intangibles of the game.”
The Islanders (11-12-5, 27 points) led by a goal early on, thanks to a Brock Nelson tally, and there were large stretches when they were the better team. But they allowed two killer power-play goals, and a defensive breakdown led to the game-winner, the first of two Matt Niskanen tallies in the final period when the Capitals (18-7-3, 39 points) defenseman was left all alone on the right side to beat Isles goaltender Jaroslav Halak (34 saves) from 💯the right circle. They played a terrible first 10 minutes to start the second period, and then were unable to get a puck past Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby (26 saves) in a strong third period.
“It seems like we’re always in the game after the sec🍨ond period,” Halak said. “Going into the third, we just find a way to lose the games. That’s what’s going on right now. We need to find a way to win games. That’s the💞 bottom line.
“Maybe we’re not playing smart enough i🌃n the third period. It’s frustrating to keep losing like this.”
Though there’s no such thing as a mus🦩t-win game in December, with so many opportunities remaining, there are lost opportunities, and this clearly was one.
The Islanders have dug themselves a deep hole, raising the importance every time they take the ice, particularly when facing a team they’re looking up at in the standings. Which is why Tuesday’s loss was so damaging. The Capitals lead the Islanders by 12 points for the East’s second wild card♔.
“With the start [we had], we got t﷽o be finding ways to win these games,” center Casey Cizikas said.
Cizikas had his arm sliced by the skate of teammate Anders Lee, but m𝄹issed just a few shifts. Lee accidentally stepped on Cizikas’s wrist while he was down on the ice, and he went to the dressing room to get stitched up. He even returned to pick up an assist on Nikolay Kulemin’s second-period goal.