Can the Islanders host the Bruins at Barclays Center tomorrow night?
Nassau Coliseum, their longtime home, has become a nightmare.
Not even a two-goal lead late in the second period, on the heels of back-to-back road victories, could solve their problems on home ice. And for the second time in less than two weeks, the Hurricanes of brothers Jordan and Eric Staal did in the Isles, who allowed four unanswered goals over the final 20:32 for a torturous 4-2 loss in front of a scant crowd of 10,048.
The Long Island team has now lost all four games starting goaltender Evgeni Nabokov has been given off, and has dropped seven of nine home contests.
“It’s frustrating,” Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. “You play well on the road, you come back here in front of your fans that are passionate and want to see good hockey, it’s unacceptable.”
Unlike previous defeats in Uniondale, the Islanders (8-10-1, 17 points) started with jump, cohesion, and discipline in their own end and capitalized on their opportunities. Carolina didn’t get a shot on goal against recent call-up Kevin Poulin — the team’s fifth-round pick in the 2008 NHL Draft — until more than seven minutes elapsed in the opening period.
By then, the Islanders already led by a goal, on Matt Moulson’s 10th of the year. John Tavares extended the difference on a 2-on-1 rush, ripping home his signature wrist shot past a frozen Cam Ward.
It stayed that way deep into the second period, but once momentum turned, it went speeding the other way faster than the crowd fled the Coliseum at the end of the night. With 1:33 left in the second period, an unfortunate carom led to an Eric Staal redirection. Less than a minute later, Jordan Staal pulled Carolina even with a wrist shot between the circles, a soft goal that eluded Poulin’s glove.
It was even on the scoreboard entering the final period, but the Islanders were running on empty, lacking the fight they had exhibited over the first two periods.
“I saw our ‘D’ [get] turned way too much, way too many giveaways by our forwards and our ‘D,’ and you’re not going to be successful like that,” Capuano said. “If you want to play like individuals, play golf or tennis.”
Bobby Sanguinetti made it 3-2 Carolina 10:17 into the third period, ripping home a right circle blast past Poulin near side, and Alexander Semin added an empty-netter, the final blow in yet another ugly defeat on home ice.
“We don’t seem to play with that attention to detail for a full 60 [minutes] or at least most of a game at home,” Tavares said. “We have to be better here.”