Capellini: Islanders Chose A Really Bad Time To Revisit Their Ugly Past

By Jeff Capellini
WFAN.com

There was just nothing acceptable about what went down on Tuesday night in Brooklyn, regardless of what Jack Capuano says.

The Islanders showed, for one game anyway, that they still have a lot of growing up to do as far as playoff hockey is concerned. They let the Tampa Bay Lightning off the hook, and they did it in the most agonizing fashion.

What should be a 2-1 series lead is now a deficit, thanks to a bitter 5-4 overtime loss. And if the Islanders are not careful, Friday night could mark the beginning of the end.

While Tampa Bay's pushback in Game 2 was expected after losing the opener, New York was equally expected to, at the very least, do some pushing back of its own in Game 3.

The Islanders did, but not nearly enough.

Capuano said he was pleased with the effort, which is kind of funny considering his players were impersonating the Isles of previous seasons when it came to protecting leads.

"I thought our guys played one of the best games we played all year. We really played a hard game, our guys should be proud of the effort. It's just tough the way that it ended," Capuano said.

He then spoke of mental toughness, which the Isles didn't show a lot of in the third period.

"Our guys know. It takes four to win. We just got to come back and have the same effort," he said. "If we do that, I don't worry about the scoreboard. I just worry about preparing our guys and making sure that they battle and they have the will to compete. And that's all you can ask of your guys. I thought from top to bottom we competed hard tonight."

While Lightning goalie Ben Bishop deserves a lot of credit for quelling an early rebellion with save after save over the first 20 minutes, the hosts have no excuse for blowing a pair of one-goal, third-period leads. No excuse whatsoever.

That stuff is reserved for the first half of the regular season, not in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, not on home ice, and not against an opponent that, while experienced and powerful, can be beaten with some adjustments and a lot more determination. Talk of compete level and all that doesn't mean much when you're a step closer to elimination despite supposedly playing your best game of the season.

We know what the Lightning are. They have a relentless offense, skaters who cover vast sections of ice in a hurry through use of exceptional legs and pinpoint passing. They can score in bunches, and they continually maintain offensive pressure, regardless if it's the first period or, as the Islanders found out in a very painful way, late in the third.

Tampa Bay also has had the best player on the ice in this series. Defenseman Victor Hedman has been all over the place. He has frustrated superstar John Tavares and by default the Islanders' entire first line. It's an ominous sign, because, as we know all too well, as the captain goes, generally, so do his wingers, regardless of how often they are replaced.

That's a story that has been told before, and will be told again once this season is officially over.

The good news in the here and now is the Islanders have been generating offense. Their on-again, off-again secondary scoring issues were not a problem during Game 3 as Josh Bailey emerged from the darkness to score twice, defenseman Nick Leddy tied the game in the second period, and Cal Clutterbuck gave the Isles a chance to grab the series lead when he scored with 8:37 left in the third.

But for whatever reason, the Islanders struggled with prosperity Tuesday night. They allowed a tying goal late in the first period, an equalizer less than a minute after grabbing a 3-2 lead early in the third and then did the inexcusable, losing sight of the Lightning's Nikita Kucherov in the slot with 39 seconds to play. His resulting goal took a lot of the life out of the Barclays Center crowd and set the stage for an overtime that ended before it really started.

We can debate the legality of Brian Boyle's hit on Thomas Hickey, which led to the big Tampa forward's winning goal, until the cows come home, but the bottom line is the Islanders were heading toward defeat long before Boyle collected an errant point blast off the end boards and beat Thomas Greiss.

"We had a chance to close it out, and we didn't," Bailey said. "Now it's about how you respond."

While a lot was made of Capuano's decision to play Bailey and scratch Ryan Strome, it turns out the Islanders sat down the wrong player. Brock Nelson was awful during Game 3. He looked lethargic on offense and repeatedly blew defensive assignments. The young center had a career-high 26 goals during the regular season, but has just one in nine games -- and a minus-4 rating -- during the playoffs.

Equally bad Tuesday was Calvin de Haan. The veteran defenseman kept treating the puck like a grenade and was often caught out of position. While sitting him down likely won't be an option for Capuano, de Haan needs to rebound and rebound quickly because the Lightning won't stop coming in waves.

Even Johnny Boychuk, perhaps the most beloved Islander not named Tavares, has had better third periods than the one he produced Tuesday night.

Capuano is going to have to make some more personnel decisions before Friday. His hunch on Bailey worked out beautifully. Now he should strongly consider taking Strome out of the doghouse and replacing him with Nelson, who may have all the talent in the world but has been a step slower than everyone else since the postseason started.

There just isn't time to let guys work out their problems. The Islanders' season is potentially two games away from coming to an end.

"You know, it sucks. We had the lead there a couple of times, and we gave it up," center Casey Cizikas said. "We have to learn from what happened tonight and move forward. I thought we played a good game. We were physical; we were fast. We just have to come out and play a full 60 and leave it all on the ice."

For once, some cliches that can't be said enough.

Read more columns by Jeff Capellini and follow him on Twitter at @GreenLanternJet