NHL

Islanders fail to convert chances, fall to Devils

Close is not a word that carries much optimism for the Islanders any more, because close is a word for losers.

With their coach Jack Capuano hospitalized as he battles kidney stones, the Islanders opened the season last night at the Coliseum with a 2-1 loss to the Devils, one that saw the home team dominate play for extended periods of time but eventually succumb to a team that knows how to win.

“New Jersey is not out to try and break you down,” said Doug Weight, who took over for Capuano behind the Islanders’ bench. “They’re out to try and take away the outside of the rink, put the puck in your zone and play in there. They block shots, they’re frustrating.

“But as we saw, when we get them tired, we can keep playing in there zone and we get some chances, and we just didn’t bury them.”

The biggest of those chances came in a defining three-minute flurry of the third period. Right after Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic tied the score 1-1 with a wide-open power-play wrist shot over Martin Brodeur’s glove, 7:12 into the period, back came the Devils, not defending Eastern Conference champions for nothing.

Just 1:05 after Hamonic tied it, David Clarkson ripped a low wrist shot that deflected off the skate of new Isles’ defenseman Brian Strait — claimed on Friday and immediately paired with captain Mark Streit — that snuck passed Evgeni Nabokov inside the near post.

“We were moving the puck well, getting chances and finally we were rewarded there with me just putting it on net,” Clarkson said. “Whoever was in front of the goal just didn’t see it.”

It was the type of bounce back that championship teams make, and the type of opportunity surrendered by teams that haven’t made the playoffs in five years.

“I kind of lost it in the end,” said Nabokov, who was the fifth consecutive different Islanders goalie to start the season in nets and was solid, making 26 saves. “Regardless of it’s a deflection or not, I have to battle through that and make the save.”

Soon after that goal, the game was back on the blade of Hamonic, again open in the slot after Ilya Kovalchuk took a silly interference penalty. Yet this time, Hamonic’s wrist shot was gobbled up in glove of Brodeur, the 40-year-old Hall of Famer to be who consistently defies the rules of age.

“Obviously, Marty made some nice saves,” Hamonic said, “and a couple on me that I’d def like to have back at this point.”

It all wouldn’t have been so frustrating if the Islanders didn’t get off to such a sluggish start. Whether it was because of their coach’s absence — Capuano watched the game at Long Island Jewish Hospital but is expected to be fine — or because the season snuck up on them after a four-month lockout, the Islanders had just three shots in the first period and were outshot for the game 19-28.

Though the Islanders might have held the tempo for stretches, looking good does not always translate to the standings.

“It [ticks] me off,” Hamonic said. “I think that’s the attitude that we all have in here, and that’s the important thing. Yea, we were close, but we weren’t close enough.”