Maybe it was a miscue in timing when Islanders coach Jack Capuano used his postgame press conference after a 4-1 loss to the Lightning in Game 2 of the second-round series on Saturday afternoon in Tampa to say, “You think sometimes the series is going to be long, then they end up in five.”
Because at that moment, if one could project the series turning quickly in one team’s favor, it sure didn’t look like it would be in the way of the Islanders. And so trepidation became a natural reaction, the fragility of postseason life became so vivid as the importance of Game 3 on Tuesday night at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center rose perceptibly, the best-of-seven contest tied at one game apiece.
“I think when I said that, I was just — whether it’s life or hockey, sometimes you have to expect the unexpected, right?” Capuano said in clarifying that statement during a conference call on Sunday, his team set to return to practice on Monday on Long Island.
“I just used that as an example. Basically my point was, ‘Let’s have a singular focus and take it game-by-game, period-by-period, shift-by-shift, rather than worrying about it’s going to be a long series.’ ”
What became crystal clear for the Islanders on Saturday is if they do want this to be a long series, they need play quite a bit better than they did in Game 2. Because the Lightning returned to the form they had so often shown over the second half of the regular season — fast and physical and supporting their Vezina Trophy-finalist goaltender, Ben Bishop. The Game 1 slip-up that resulted in a 5-3 Islanders’ win on Wednesday was the outlier.
The Islanders are fully aware they can’t rely on those types of defensive lapses. Because coach Jon Cooper adjusted masterfully from Game 1, and he proved prescient in reuniting the Triplets line, finding a place for Jonathan Drouin’s offensive talent to flourish, and solidifying the defensive base that revolves around the do-it-all wonder Victor Hedman and his power to moderately neutralize John Tavares and the Islanders’ top-heavy forward corps.
So in the face of all that, and with the Lightning having been to the Stanley Cup Final last year, are the Islanders embracing the underdog label? Really, that’s just the type of big-picture idea Capuano is trying to keep out of his locker room.
“I think I have a good heartbeat on this group: Sometimes less is more when you want to have a conversation with them,” Capuano said. “I just want to make sure we understand what we have to do.”
To internalize the focus, then, is to see what the Islanders did wrong in Game 2. They were sloppy with the puck through the neutral zone, and they hardly could make any offensive push once they went down, 3-1, midway through the second period. It was surprising, really, to see how little they could create in the closing 30 minutes. How ugly is it to see the totals of five shots in the second period and three shots in the third coming from a team down by two goals in a playoff game?
“Watching that game tape again and going through it,” Capuano said, “there are periods in that game … that we were just reluctant to get net presence or get pucks to the net.”
That’s effort, which is something the Islanders had in abundance in Game 1. They were physical, and brought their game to the Lightning. The exact opposite happened in Game 2, and the challenge in front of them now seems rather large.
But Capuano is trying to keep his team from looking at that mountain, and instead focus on the first step. Because otherwise, this could turn into a quick series, and by the time his Islanders get back on a plane heading for Florida next weekend, the season could be on the line.
“I’ve always prepared them, basically, [to have] short memory now,” Capuano said. “It’s Game 3, so let’s just worry about Game 3. I don’t want to look behind or look forward. I just want to concentrate on the task at hand.”