Home » Posts tagged 'Jack Capuano'
Tag Archives: Jack Capuano
Could Changes be Coming to Isles Defense?
Jack Capuano wasn’t mincing his words after Tuesday’s 3-2 loss at home to the New York Rangers. Capuano spent most of his one minute and 24 second post-game press conference calling out his team’s defense and even hinted at a possible call up happening.
“Think about calling up a guy and putting him in the lineup. I don’t know,” Capuano said, when asked about what can be done to prevent defensive mistakes. “Same mistakes can’t happen. We only have six of them back there.”
The Islanders defense struggled for most of the game. Several defensive breakdowns throughout the game and sloppy play in their own end cost the Islanders in the end.
“Our D have to play better. That’s the bottom line tonight,” Capuano commented. “We need to win more wall battles as our forwards, but our defense has to find a way to play better.”
Now it’s unclear if the Islanders will make a call up in response to last night’s game, but the team has suffered with two injuries on the back end. The Islanders have been without Lubomir visnovsky and Brian Strait due to injuries.
Both Andrew MacDonald and Travis Hamonic have stepped up in their place. Tuesday night MacDonald logged 26:55 of total ice time, which led the team in ice time, and Travis Hamonic played 24:18.
The most likely Bridgeport Sound Tiger to get a call up, should one happen, would be Calvin de Haan, Aaron Ness, or Joe Finely, who was sent down on waivers in September.
Isles Practice Videos: 10/14
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — The Islanders held practice today at Nassau Coliseum. Below are Matt Martin’s and Jack Capuano’s post practice media availability:
Coyotes Vs. Islanders: Pre-Game Report
After a relatively successful opening weekend, the Islanders are back in action tonight against the Phoenix Coyotes.
The Islanders and Coyotes last saw one another back on January 7, 2012 when Phoenix beat the Isles 5-1. The Coyotes haven’t made a trip to Nassau Coliseum since December 18, 2010. The Islanders lost that game 4-3 in the shootout.
Phoenix is coming into tonight’s matchup off a 1-1-0 opening weekend, with a season opening 4-1 win over the New York Rangers on Thursday and a 4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
There is now word on the Yotes lineup for tonight, but the Islanders will put out the same lineup that was on display on Friday and Saturday. Cal Clutterbuck, who’s missed the first two games of the year, will not play tonight. Isles head coach Jack Capuano says that he does not want to rush Clutterbuck back into the lineup.
Evgeni Nabokov will get his third consecutive start of the year tonight.
Islanders Lineup:
Moulson-Tavares-Okposo
Bailey-Nielsen-Grabner
Nelson-Regin-Bouchard
Martin-Cizikas-McDonald
MacDonald-Hamonic
Hickey-Visnovsky
Donovan-Strait.
Hamonic and Grabner Return to Practice; Isles to Get New Third Jerseys
Islander fans took a deep sigh of relief today at the news that both Michael Grabner and Travis Hamonic returned to practice.
Hamonic had actually returned yesterday, but was wearing a non-contact jersey during the team skate. Today he returned to the ice, full-contact and all.
The Islander defender left Sunday night’s preseason finale against Ottawa after taking a hit from Derek Grant in the first period. Hamonic was evaluated monday night and cleared to play.
Grabner was absent from practice yesterday, but also returned today. Islander head coach Jack Capuano told the New York Post that he was not feeling well yesterday.
************
The Islanders colors wont be changing, but they will be getting a new third jersey.
Brett Yormark: #Isles new 3rd jersey in Brooklyn will be black and white. #sbjsms
— Chris Botta (@ChrisBottaNHL) October 2, 2013
Brett Yormark: reaction of #Isles fans on Twitter changed his thinking on drastically changing primary jersey. #sbjsms
— Chris Botta (@ChrisBottaNHL) October 2, 2013
No official rendering has been released.
Nabokov’s Play a Part of Isles Success
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — A big part of the Islanders success this season has been in part due to veteran goaltender Evgeni Nabokov.
The 37-year-old Russian netminder has made big saves all season long and stolen games for his club. Through 41 appearances in the regular season Nabokov has posted a 23-11-7 record, with a goal against average of 2.50 and a save percentage of .910. And despite allowing seven goals through the first two games, he’s continued to be a big reason why the Islanders have had success.
“None of those goals I felt Nabby had a chance on,” head coach Jack Capuano said of the goals Nabokov let in Friday night. “He’s played well for us and he’s going to continue to play well for us.”
Nabokov was huge in the come from behind victory on Friday. He kept his team in the game, especially during a late second period double minor called on John Tavares that put the Penguins on the power play.
“He played really well,” Travis Hamonic said. “It’s kind of what we expect of him. Just to play good and that’s what it seems like he does every game. We’ve just become pretty normalized to it now, but I thought he made some real big saves especially in the third period. He kind of made a couple of game changers and that’s what you need.”
“He’s obviously an older veteran goalie and he’s been in the playoffs before and he’s gone deep in the playoffs many times. He knows what to expect and I think as a group we expect that from him.”
Capuano added: “He’s an experienced guy. He’s been through this before and a guy like that is an extension of the coaching staff. He’s been real solid in goal down the stretch. Your best penalty killer is your goaltender. And he’s a guy that you look at some of those games that we won close down the stretch and you talk about our goals allowed and how they’ve decreased a little bit. It’s a big part of Nabokov.”
Post-Game Notebook: Isles Lose in SO to Sabres 2-1
Read the full game story for New York Hockey Journal here
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Islanders fell to the Sabres 2-1 in the shootout, and while the secured one point in the standings, they now need a bit of help from the New Jersey Devils and/or the Philadelphia Flyers to keep them out of finishing eighth.
The Devils and Rangers play today at 3 p.m. and the Flyers take on the Ottawa Senator today at 7 p.m.
As for last night’s game, the Islanders started off slow and made too many sloppy mistakes that gave the Sabres opportunity after opportunity. Buffalo did make a few mistakes of their own, but the Isles never cashed in until the early third period goal by Keith Aucoin.
The power play was mostly a no show for a better part of the game, though the last man advantage the Isles had did generate several chance. Through their last five games the Islanders have gone 1-for-16 on the power play. It is area that the coaching staff is aware has to be worked on.
“It’s something that we have to address,” head coach Jack Capuano said last night. “Special teams goes up and down throughout the year. Our power, we just have to get a little more urgency to our game and making sure we’re converging. Get to those tough areas and we didn’t do a great job of that tonight.”
Of course another area to address was the sloppy play the Islanders have been exhibiting the past few games. Last night, and the night before for that matter, was not the same Islander squad that has caught the eyes of the entire NHL over the past month. Travis Hamonic was very blunt last night in saying that his team “showed up for maybe 15 minutes” and it was very accurate. It wasn’t until the lucky break that allowed Aucoin to score that the Islanders really started to put the screws on the Sabres.
That will be something that the team will need to work on, and will work on, as they prepare for their first round opponent.
Post-Game Quotes:
Keith Aucoin:
On the lucky bounce:
“I was able to get a good bounce off the boards and it was so high miller wasn’t able to get it. He kind of lunged and had a five-hole wide open.”
On game performance:
“The first forty weren’t good for us, but the last twenty was pretty good. Once we got that goal we kind of got the momentum and started to play the way we’re capable of playing. We have to do that from the first 20, we can’t wait till the last 10. Once we got that goal we played the way we’re capable of playing.”
Evgeni Nabokov:
On what you carry over from the regular season:
“You always want to remember what took you to this point. Why we were so successful in the last month and a half. We just have to do those things and maybe more. Everything is going to quicker, more physical, more edgy and we have to be ready for that because it’s going to be a hard, hard searies. It doesn’t matter who it’s going to be.”
Jack Capuano:
On turning the page:
“That’s what we talked about after. We came back, we got the point, we didn’t win the skills competition, but told them after the game that they deserve this opportunity to move forward. The past is the past. We’ll meet when we get back, we’ll get some rest here and we’ll move forward. It’s an exciting time for the guys.”
Isles Blog 