After playing with the style and speed the they were so successful with last year, Jack Capuano didn't have too many interesting or off-color things to say in his post game press conference following the Islanders 3-1 win over the Bruins. He praised the Islanders execution and "battle," but didn't offer much more than how pleased he was with his team bringing exactly what they're supposed to for sixty minutes.
Of his goalie of choice, Capuano praised Kevin Poulin for again "battling." When asked by Stan Fischler if it was a statement game for Poulin, Capuano smirked slyly and agreed:
He played with a lot of confidence tonight - well, he always plays with confidence. But again, tonight he knew he had to be good against that team and he stepped up.
Hamonic is Listening:
But the most provocative post-game comments came from Travis Hamonic and were included in Rob McGowan's recap post at The Checking Line. Hamonic took up the flag for his teammates on defense who have struggled as of late.
Hamonic's message: you better watch your ass, jack, because he hears you doggin' his bros and he's tellin' you to backthehellup.
Being that the Isles defense has been criticized as one of the team's weaker points of play, Hamonic was asked if this was a game that can help build confidence going forward. But just like he does on the ice, Hamonic was very quick to defend his teammates.
"You guys are going to write that our d-core is this and our d-core is that but honestly I think that it's kind of bullshit," said Hamonic.
"But you guys are going to write what you're going to write and I thought our d-core had a pretty good game tonight. We're happy with who we have back there as a group. We're not stupid, we see what things are written about us as a d-core but we're going to go out and we're going to play hard and I think we did a really good job tonight as a six-man unit, as we did last night to be quite honest with you. I think we're a young group out there but we're starting to play better. We demand a lot of each other and all of that outside pressure is what it is, and that's all it is."
So, um, Travis... did you read anything else lately? Like the Rick DiPietro Owner's Manual? Because if that pissed you off, um... Dom wrote it and I can tell you where he lives.