Nobody will ever confuse Islanders coach Jack Capuano with Fred Astaire, but the way he’s dancing around the questions about his goaltending is rather impressive indeed.
Following a solid 28-save performance from presumptive backup Thomas Greiss in the team’s 4-1 win over the Red Wings on Monday at Barclays Center, Capuano punted again on the query of whether Greiss could supplant Jaroslav Halak as the team’s No. 1 netminder.
“I just think, honestly, with the amount of games we have this month and next month, all three goalies are going to get a good opportunity to play a lot of hockey,” Capuano said, also adding often-scratched Jean-Francois Berube into the mix. “Because the one thing we want to make sure is that we’re fresh. Playing every other day, it’s a lot of hockey. We want to utilize it and make sure we do the right things with our players.”
Capuano has been adamant he is going to use the players he deems are playing best, and there’s no question Greiss has outplayed Halak recently.
This was Greiss’ third start in the past five games, having given up four goals on 90 shots in that span. Halak got torched for six goals on 25 shots on Saturday in Carolina during a 6-3 loss to the Hurricanes. In his previous five starts, Halak has a .850 save percentage and 4.26 goals-against average, and in his 10 starts since returning from injury back on Jan. 7, Halak has a .896 and 3.12.
“When you have a hot goalie and he’s playing well, you want to play him,” Capuano said. “But again, we always take into account, on the back-to-back, what stats they might have had against those teams and in years past.”
Top-four defenseman Calvin de Haan didn’t play the third period due to a lower-body injury, and it is a point of concern for Capuano.
“He’s a tough kid, for him not to be able to go ….,” Capuano said, trailing off. “I don’t know how long that will be and we’ll have a better idea when he gets reevaluated [Tuesday]. But you lose one of your top guys, and the way that he played this year, it’s going to be a concern for your coaching staff, for sure.”
Cal Clutterbuck returned after a one-game absence due to illness. He went back to his regular spot on the right wing of the fourth line, making Steve Bernier a healthy scratch.
Defenseman Marek Zidlicky replaced Brian Strait on the right side of the third pair, next to Thomas Hickey. Zidlicky scored his fourth goal of the season at 16:03 of the second period for a 3-0 lead.
The Islanders announced a sellout crowd of 15,795, the sixth sellout of this inaugural season in Brooklyn.
There was a bizarre lightning mishap during warm-ups, first all the lights being very low, then just the Red Wings side being fully illuminated for about 10 minutes before things went back to normal.