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The New York Islanders' shot at pulling out a win or point in another close game fell apart in hat-raining fashion in the third period last night, leaving coach Jack Capuano talking of passengers and a lack of urgency, while ice-time leader P.A. Parenteau said "the wheels fell off" in the third.
Not sure how Matt Martin ended up the goat (just one shift in the third period) [UPDATE: Turns out Martin was ill, even went home separate from team. The more you know.] But obviously Capuano had several things to figure out. A seven-point span has the Islanders as close to 29th overall as they are to the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference.
Wide range of recaps and reactions from: Yours truly | In Lou We Trust | Newsday described Jack Capuano as "a bit stupefied": "It's mind-boggling the way we didn't execute ... We had some guys, quite frankly, that were invisible.") | Post | Daily News | Fire & Ice on Kovy and Hedberg will start Saturday | Star-Ledger with Kovy on his comrade Nabokov: "I don’t know if he’s going to talk to me after the game." | Official site with some player quotes
Eric Hornick's Skinny had plenty of factoids, including: "Andrew MacDonald's goal was the first by an Islander defenseman since Mark Streit's overtime tally against Los Angeles Feb. 11." The Isles are 1-5-1 away from the Coliseum since winning four straight on the road.
On the lighter side: Rangers, club in crisis? And the latest "Islesography" video feature is on Michael Grabner's route to the NHL. Here's to him playing in Game 3 of this week's Devils trilogy.