PHILADELPHIA — For weeks, Jack Capuano has said pressure is a good thing, that when you’re dealing with pressure it means you’re playing for something.
Well, that something is the playoffs, and it’s very real now that the Islanders and their coach have clinched a postseason berth for the first time since 2007. What’s also real is the fact his team is not exactly enamored with their starts recently, which was again the case Thursday night when they lost to the eliminated Flyers, 2-1, at the Wells Fargo Center.
But Capuano, in as testy a mood as he has ever been in since taking over the job behind the Islanders bench early in the 2010 season, will not let the dour dominate the conversation.
“I’m not throwing any negativity at you guys,” he said to small number of grouped media. “You guys cause all the [crap] in the world about every negative.”
Capuano’s team started last night in sixth place in the conference, but was leapfrogged by the Rangers and Senators after both teams won. So the Islanders (24-17-6) are now in eighth, and might stay there even with a win in the season finale tonight in Buffalo against another eliminated team in the Sabres.
No matter the issues with his team, the coach is not going to create a mountain out of what he sees as a molehill.
“You can write what you want to write,” Capuano said. “I’m not going to let it creep in. You guys did it with the home record and all the [bull] you caused. I’m not letting it creep in. Do what you want. Write what you want.”
Early in the season, with the playoffs still more a pipe dream than a reality, the Isles struggled to string together wins at home. On this road trip, started four games ago in Toronto, they have scored the first goal just once while still managing a 2-1-1 record.
“We’ve started flat the last few games, so we have to change that trend,” said John Tavares, who scored his 28th goal of the season to tie it 1-1 early in the second. “We can’t sit on just making the playoffs, because it will be over before we know it.”
Capuano never in denial of his team’s slow start, which became a Danny Briere power-play goal 11:41 into the first for a Flyers 1-0 lead. Once he cooled down a bit postgame, Capuano even admitted some concern about a letdown one game after clinching a playoff spot.
“We didn’t have a great first period,” Capuano said, “and as a coaching staff you wonder a little bit after you clinch the playoffs.”
It would have been forgotten had backup goalie Kevin Poulin not surrendered the game-winner, a rifle of a slap shot from Oliver Lauridsen with 6:31 left in the third. Because when the pressure is for real, heavy on the backs of all those involved, winning is the only release.
“We’ll have to check the scores, and that’s not something we want to be doing,” said defenseman Travis Hamonic. “We want to be controlling it ourselves, and tonight we didn’t do that — at all.”
bycyrgalis@nypost.com