Recap:
The Islanders saw their seven-game home winning streak snapped Monday, falling 4-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers at Barclays Center.
Three Stars
1st Star: Brandon Manning (PHI, GWG)
2nd Star: Steve Mason (PHI, 23 saves)
3rd Star: Kyle Okposo (1G)
Team Notes:
• The Islanders fell to 6-1-1 at home since the All-Star Break
• New York is now 13-6-4 against the Metropolitan Division this season
• The Islanders are 0-3-1 in their last four games
Player Notes:
• John Tavares played in his 500th career NHL game.
• Kyle Okposo (1G) reached the 20-goal mark for the third time in his career.
• Calvin de Haan (1A) recorded the lone assist on Okposo’s goal.
• Thomas Greiss made 23 saves
Jack Capuano:
On the game: Again, it’s the same guys that are on the score sheet every night. The power play could have got us going tonight, but we failed to do that. They’ve got (Flyers) a high octane team and scored big goals when they needed it. We just aren’t getting any puck luck right now.
On Tavares: “I think with every leader you sometimes try to do too much because they want to win so badly and they want to help their teammates achieve the goal that they want to achieve. He is doing everything he can. He’s trying. At the end of the day, he’s trying to lead our team. He’s doing the best he can right now but the supporting staff, our other guys – it’s nonexistent right now.”
On the teams energy: “I thought we had plenty of chances. There’s a lot of guys that are playing with a lot of urgency and you’ve got other guys that are struggling. You can’t have four or five guys struggling at this time of year if you’re going to be successful. We are the type of team that is built a certain way. We need all twenty guys going. We can’t have any passengers on any given night or we are going to find ourselves in a struggle to win that hockey game. You just hope that some of the guys that are struggling now can find their way in the last few games that we have.”
John Tavares:
On the game: “It’s frustrating a little bit. Obviously it’s an important time of year and we’re not playing our best. The main thing is that we stay positive and stay together. Obviously we’re in the final stretch, but we still like our team we’re a good hockey team. We’ve played good hockey until this point and obviously it starts with me leading the way and I know I have to be better. We know this isn’t our best, but I believe in our group and we have to refocus for Wednesday.”
On the team: “It’s not like we aren’t trying. I think we just have to execute better. We have to play with a little more confidence and believe in our game and the way we have to play. There can’t be any panic. Obviously we need some urgency and we need to get some points. It’s crucial into the final stretch.”
Travis Hamonic:
On last year vs. this year: “Last years was last year. This is this season and we’ve played some really good hockey. We’re confident in our group. It wa a tough lose tonight but we gotta be ready to go. We have a big handful of games coming up and we gotta be ready. This time of year it’s rebounding quickly.”
Dave Hakstol (Flyers coach):
On Mason: Excellent. Look at the first ten minutes of this hockey game, even narrow it down further, the first 3:30 through that first Penalty Kill, for him to get us through the start was real critical for us.”
On the Flyers game lately: “I’ve said all along, it’s not the last couple of weeks, our team has played well over the last 30 games. The guys are playing hard and they’re playing together. We’ve known all along that we’ve got a tough battle to get above the line in the playoff race. The guys are having fun and they’re working hard right now. There’s a goal in mind but I think everyday it’s more critical to focus on the task at hand, to show up, to play hard, and have fun while you’re doing it.”
Steve Mason (Flyers goaltender):
On the Islanders fast start: “You knew they were going to come out hard at home. They were coming off a tough road trip there and they wanted to respond. It was nice to weather the storm early.”
Brandon Manning (Flyers defenseman):
On his first NHL goal: “Its been a long time coming. Your first (goal) everyone says you’ll always remember it. I think the biggest thing was to be able to contribute in games like this, in situations like this. The biggest thing for our team was to win tonight.”
Nick Cousins (Flyers forward):
On the playoff race: “We’re chasing these guys (the Islanders) now. It was a big game, probably the biggest game of the season so far. We gotta move on to tomorrow and bring the same effort.”
