It wasn’t that Jack Capuano was fiery hot with anger, but more that the Islanders coach just dropped the filter for a few moments and allowed the world to see how frustrated he is with his team that is very quickly watching as their season slides away into the abyss.
And that starts with some veteran players who have underperformed, not just in the 2-1 loss to the Panthers on Wednesday night at Barclays Center that was the third straight game in which this team scored just one goal, but throughout this season that has buried them in last place in the Eastern Conference.
“We signed some guys for reasons, we want to give those guys an opportunity,” Capuano said, a not-so-veiled reference to free-agent additions Andrew Ladd and Jason Chimera, both of whom sat for large swaths of time, Chimera playing a team-low 9:45.
“There are some other guys, too — you can say the veteran guys, but there are a few of the young guys — you watch the game tonight, they were non-factors,” Capuano said. “What you need to do right now, in the time that you’re in this game right now, you have to come to the rink and you have to be a difference-maker. If you don’t have that mindset to be a difference-maker, knowing it’s a crucial time with games in hand, to play like you played tonight, then you’re in the wrong profession as an athlete.”
Harsh words coming from Capuano, but meaningful ones as his Islanders (15-16-8) are bordering on irrelevancy before they even have reached the halfway mark of their season. Goal scoring used to be the one indelible strength of this group, but now that it has disappeared, what is left?
“It was just a sloppy game back and forth, and we weren’t able to generate enough offense,” captain John Tavares said. “I don’t think they were able to generate either, but they just scored one more goal.”
After a first period in which goals were traded by Keith Yandle and Nick Leddy to take a 1-1 tie into the second, the Panthers (19-16-8) pounced. Capuano, for his part, had another way to describe the middle 20 minutes.
“Probably the worst second period we’ve played all year,” he said. “We had no rhythm, no execution. Certain guys should have stayed in the room.”
The Panthers scored when Jason Demers had a shot from the right dot bounced in off Dennis Seidenberg and behind Thomas Greiss, who was making his fourth straight since Jaroslav Halak cleared waivers and was sent to AHL Bridgeport. The Isles were lucky to go into the third down only 2-1, and despite holding Florida to just one shot on goal over the final 20 minutes, none of their 12 were good enough to beat Roberto Luongo to tie it.
“Today was one of those nights when we were hoping at times, and when you hope, I don’t think the puck is really going to will itself in for you,” forward Cal Clutterbuck said. “I think it was one of those nights when we needed to just jam away at it. We just didn’t give enough.”
That often has been the case this season, and Capuano might have something in mind.
“There are guys that will be out of the lineup next game, no doubt about that,” he said, as his team travels to South Florida to finish this home-and-home for a game on Friday at the start of a three-game trip. “It’s the accountability of the coaching staff to do what they have to do.”
As far as taking some veteran guys out of the lineup, Capuano added, “That’s a management decision, too.” But it’s on him to try to turn this thing around, if it’s not already too late.
“I think we’ve got a nothing-to-lose attitude right now,” Clutterbuck said. “You only get so many chances. It’s up to us to decide if we want to take that chance or let it go.”