NHL

McDonald expected to return to Islanders’ lineup

WASHINGTON—The Islanders are expecting forward Colin McDonald back in the lineup for Thursday’s game against the Hurricanes in Carolina, and he couldn’t be welcomed any sooner.

After Tuesday night’s disheartening 6-2 loss to the Capitals at the Verizon Center, coach Jack Capuano was rather pointed about shaking up his lineup and how that could positively affect his team moving into the second leg of this four-game road trip.

“We have some options as far as the forwards go,” said Capuano, who before the game all but guaranteed McDonald’s reinsertion after now missing five straight with a left-hip injury.  “We have to figure out the combinations that we think are going to generate.”

The Islanders (6-6-3) were quite a letdown after taking a weekend sweep over two good teams in the Senators and Bruins.  Yet the Capitals (8-7-0) scored four power-play goals, which Capuano said was the reason his team lost.

But he also pointed to his offense not generating enough, especially the line of Frans Neilsen, who was flanked by Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Josh Bailey.

“I didn’t particularly like 51’s line,” Capuano said, referring to Nielsen by jersey number.  “I don’t think it generated a whole lot.  If you’re going to play a top-six role in this league, you have to generate some chances.  I just didn’t see it tonight.  We need more out of that.”

McDonald originally hurt the hip while hitting Eric Nystrom of the Predators in a game on Oct. 12, and missed the following game against the Sabres.  Yet he rushed to get back in the lineup, and played the next four games without the same intensity.

“I can say this now, that I probably jumped back too quickly,” McDonald said.  “I just didn’t want to get taken out of the lineup, to be honest.  I’d never really been hurt before, and I wasn’t sure how to handle it.  Yeah, just I’m assuming any day now.”

McDonald would likely take out rookie Brock Nelson, who played just 8:46 while on a fourth line with Matt Martin and Casey Cizikas.  Of course, there are other options – including Bouchard, who was already a healthy scratch on Oct. 12, his fifth game with the team.

“For me, evaluating our play tonight, I don’t think a couple of our lines generated what they should have,” Capuano said.  “That’s a little bit more concerning for me than anything else.”

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It’s likely that backup goalie Kevin Poulin will play in one, if not two, of the next three games.

Poulin was good in Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Bruins at the Coliseum, and Capuano hinted that he might get a look Thursday in Carolina.

“Kevin played extremely well against Boston,” Capuano said before the game, and whose team, after Carolina, goes to Columbus and Montreal for a Friday-Saturday back-to-back.  “We have two guys that can do the job, and Nabby will get his shot [Tuesday] and we’ll see what happens before we head to Carolina.”

Poulin, 23, has played three of the team’s first 15 games, and with Saturday being his first win, he lowered his GAA to 2.68, and raised his save percentage to .907.

“It was a good game,” Poulin said Tuesday morning.  “It was two-three days ago, so I’m kind of over it by now.  Keep going, keep practicing hard, keep getting better every day with practice.  And looking forward to the next start.”

The most NHL games Poulin has played in a season was 10, coming in 2010-11, when he dislocated his kneecap in a game warm-up in February.  He had dislocated that same kneecap just one year prior, but has been relatively healthy since then.

“I don’t like to expect starts, I just like to when I get one, just enjoy it and make the most of it,” Poulin said.  “Last year was a short season, Nabby was playing really good, we were in a playoff push.  I understood my role.

“But this year, it’s a little different. The role is still the same, but maybe I’ll play a little bit more. [In an] 82-game season, it’s hard for a goalie to play 75.  So, the more games means more expectation.  You want to get wins as well.  You don’t’ want to just play to give Nabby a rest.  You want to play to win and give the team a good push.”

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Third-line center Peter Regin stayed in the lineup after having his wisdom teeth pulled on Sunday and missing Monday’s practice.

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The Islanders are still traveling with just six healthy defensemen, as there was no call-ups made from the AHL.  There was also no update on either injured defensemen, Lubomir Visnovsky (concussion) and Brian Strait (upper body), who both have yet to resume skating.