Islanders fans booed former captain Mark Streit in his return to Nassau Coliseum.
Perhaps they were just frustrated at the state of the team’s defense, because the Isles certainly could use the veteran blue-liner.
That was readily apparent after another uneven performance by the back line.
Though he protected his defensemen, Islanders coach Jack Capuano expressed his concern regarding his porous defense Saturday morning, and that was before the Islanders got shredded by the previously anemic Flyers, allowing three first-period goals en route to a dismal 5-2 loss in front of 13,620 mostly angry customers at Nassau Coliseum.
“We have to defend a little harder around them,” Capuano said before the game. “We’re not the biggest ‘D,’ but we have to defend a little harder to give our goalies a better chance.”
Across their first 11 games, the Islanders (4-4-3, 11 points) have held an opponent to fewer than two goals just once, and the opposition has scored 17 over the past four contests. The Islanders still have managed three points in that span, a nod to their relentless attack.
Goaltending, whether by Evgeni Nabokov of Saturday’s starter Kevin Poulin, has been a point of concern, but the back line’s struggled are well documented.
“It’s just sloppy in our own end,” captain John Tavares said after the loss. “We haven’t made it easy on our goaltenders. It’s tough to ask them to give us 30-plus saves a night. We have to bare down away from the puck, rather than worry about things with the puck.”
Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen scored the Islanders goals.
Capuano split up his top pair on defense, Travis Hamonic and Andrew MacDonald, looking to help out the other pairings, particularly rookie Matt Donovan, a minus-two, and Matt Carkner. They didn’t have an answer for Vincent Lecavalier, who broke out of a season-long slump with a hat trick, as the Flyers won for just the third time this season.
Philadelphia (3-7-0, 6 points) entered the contest the only team in the NHL without a three-goal performance on its resume. The Flyers looked like a powerhouse Saturday night, scoring against Poulin on their first two shots, as they avoided becoming the first team to fail to score three goals in a game through their first 10 games since the 1940 New York Americans.
“It’s a little bit of everything,” MacDonald said. “They seem to be getting some good chances off the team. As a team, we’re going to have to work on our rush response. Collectively as a whole, we have to improve defensively.”
Capuano, perhaps looking to deflect blame from the team’s struggling defensemen, criticized his entire team’s effort after the first period. He didn’t see enough fight or all-out effort — qualities the Islanders rode to the playoffs last year.
“We need all 20 guys going, and tonight we didn’t [have that],” he said. “For us to be successful, that’s the type of team we have, and that’s how we need to play. Win, lose or draw, the work ethic and determination and the grit in your game has to be there, and I didn’t see that in our game tonight.”