November 23 postgame quotes: New York

Jack Capuano, on the Kings scoring late in the third period:
Yeah we’ve got to find a way at the end to kill a penalty. I knew that we were going to have to, we had a couple and we didn’t do anything with those, and they were going to get one or two eventually but it’s frustrating because it’s probably one of the best games we’ve played coming in to this building and we can’t get any results. Just got to try and find a way to kill one at the end.

Capuano, on the Islanders giving up goals late in recent games:
I think our penalty kill, they have the mindset that they accept the challenge especially when it happened it’s just the way the year’s going as far as the penalty kill. I don’t have any answer for it, it just seems that pucks have eyes and find a way to go in the back of the net right now.

Capuano, on whether the go-ahead goal “took the wind out of their sails”:
Well you’re being aggressive at that point, you’re sending guys and we had a forward back on their third goal so like I said, I can’t fault the effort that my guys gave tonight. If you’re watching that game and you’re a spectator, we came in and we worked extremely hard and we played a solid game. Especially on the road and on back-to-back nights. We had our legs and we hemmed them in the third period. I think we didn’t give that team any chances tonight even-strength and that’s what you ask your guys to do and we did that.

John Tavares, on the Kings scoring late in the third period:
Yeah I think disappointing, obviously. The third period was probably our best period of the game and unfortunately we weren’t able to at least get it to overtime. Just trying to get the two points, you know. Disappointing result.

Tavares, on not having a lot of room on the ice through the first 40 minutes:
It’s one of the toughest back-to-backs in the league, coming in here. Big strong teams and they do a good job of clearing out the front of their net and trying to close your time and space entering their zone so you know, we seemed to get going more and more as the game went on, especially in the third. It was a tight game between opportunities we were able to generate some and got a big goal and just weren’t able to get the next one.

Tavares, on the last five minutes of the game:
It was a little bit of a scene, nice shot with a tip and we just haven’t seemed to get some of those to go our way. You know we generated some chances and made a push in the third. Obviously they got a powerplay and then you got to find a way to kill it off and generate the winning back our way so, I like the way we competed in the third.

Travis Hamonic, on the Islanders effort against the Kings:
Well it was obviously not our best game. That’s no secret. We played ok at the start, we kind of dipped there in the middle part of the game and had a pretty good third period up until those last four minutes or whatever it was. We seemed like we were finally playing the way that we’re pressed into playing but we just kind of fell of there at the end. It’s frustrating but we have no choice but to move forward. That’s it.

Hamonic, on whether the team needs more consistency in its play:
Yeah that’s 100% right. We’ve just got to keep rolling ‘em over one shift at a time. Different guys doing the same thing. We feel that we can and we do, we’re quite effective in how we’re playing so we just need to collectively, everyone, top to bottom, we’ve just got to be a little more consistent in our play and maybe be a little bit more predictable. At points tonight it was a strong game for us and there were other points where it certainly wasn’t.

Hamonic, on whether it was good to see Anders Lee get on the scoreboard:
Yeah you know what he’s a guy that he works every day. No one sees it. He’s in practice everyday constantly working, he’s played extremely well for us this year quite frankly. You know battling against him in practice he’s a bull in front of the net so it doesn’t surprise me that he gets those two right there but he’s certainly played really really well. I know that the goals haven’t come for him as easy but that just shows you what kind of work ethic he has so it’s nice to see him rewarded for that work.

Hamonic, on what the Islanders need to do to make this road trip successful:
Well, just another win. That’s it. We have no other choice. We need all the points we can get so we just need to come out and be ready.

Anders Lee, on scoring two goals in the game:
It was nice to get a bounce. We worked hard for that, all three of us, Quiner and Chimera and the guys on the back-end so to tie it up in the third period was huge for us and gave us a chance at the end.

Lee, on scoring without a helmet:
Yeah I knew I was going to take one in the eye or have an opportunity there but it worked out for me and thankfully escaped unharmed.

Lee, on the final minutes of the game:
They took advantage of a couple opportunities. They made some plays and a seeing-eye shot to take the lead, hits the pipe and goes in. Those are tough tough to handle, but with three minutes left or whatever it was, tie game on the road, we’ve got to have that.

Lee, on whether the scoreboard represented the Islanders effort:
For sure, the final didn’t necessarily feel like it was really 4-2 game the whole time so it’s tough but we’ve got to get ready and go back at it on Friday. This is a road trip here with three tough teams and if we can get four or six, that’s pretty good.

Lee, on what the team needs to improve on for the next game:

We just need to have a little bit more poise and stick with it. We had glimpses of a game tonight that were pretty good but if we can play more like we did against Anaheim I think we should have a great chance.

Andrew Ladd, on the toughest part about not coming away with at least a point:
I think anytime you’re in a tie game late you want to at least get the game to overtime, especially on the road. We did a good job of crawling ourselves back in the game and then Lee had that big goal to tie it 1-1 and then they had a big powerplay goal that changed the game there. It’s tough, you’ve got to try and find ways to get that to overtime and get some points in the game.