Via the team, quotes from tonight’s loss to the Islanders:
Washington Capitals head coach Adam Oates on tonight’s errors being mental errors…
“It’s one of those things, we talked about it. I was really pumped when we obviously caught up in the second, and we felt good about ourselves going into the third. We had some chances. [Troy] Brouwer had a chance, Nicky [Nicklas Backstrom] had one, Hendy [Matt Hendricks] had one, and we just didn’t get that third goal. It wasn’t for pressing; the mistake wasn’t for pressing. It was just a bad mental decision.”
Washington Capitals head coach Adam Oates on facing the Islanders…
“We talked about the Islanders. They’re a better team than people think. They’ve improved. They do a lot of things well, they’re well coached. I don’t think we took them lightly. We made a couple mistakes, but after that we played good hockey.”
Washington Capitals forward Joel Ward on the third period…
“We were down by two, came back and felt good about ourselves and started to get under our feet a little bit more. It was late in the game, we had some chances and they put one in with five minutes left.”
Washington Capitals forward Matt Hendricks on the Capitals intensity…
“I think the way we’ve been playing over the last five games, you know starting on the road…our starts are great. It’s not every night you come out and things happen the way you want them to. We talked about it, we addressed it, the coaching staff addressed it. We just didn’t get what we wanted to tonight. Hopefully next game we’ll be ready to go.”
Washington Capitals forward Matt Hendricks the first eight minutes of the game…
“I don’t think we came out with the fire we needed, the intensity that we needed. We’ve talked a lot about intensity – I think it’s been good as of lately but tonight we just didn’t play the system the way we had to to make it a simple hockey game. We made it difficult on ourselves.”
Washington Capitals forward Mike Ribeiro coming back from the road…
“It’s just normal to go on the road and to come back – the first five, seven, ten minutes it’s not the way you want it to be. That’s when you need to be more mentally prepared for everything knowing your legs may not be there, but your head has to be there, and you can’t make small mistakes that cost us.”
New York Islanders head coach Jack Capuano on getting out to a quick two goal lead, giving it up, but getting the win…
“We knew [the Capitals] were going to come, that’s a talented team. Last time we played them they were missing Brooks Laich who’s a great leader for their team and a great player in [Mike] Green on the back end. We were fortunate to have that two goal lead. We knew the surge in the momentum was going to change, it always does in the course of the game with the great crowd that they have so I thought we withstood it pretty good.”
New York Islanders head coach Jack Capuano on the John Tavares line getting the game-winner…
“That line struggled a little bit in the first two periods but I talked with them after the second [period] and I knew they were going to find a way. We knew they were going to find a way. When you need a big goal, it’s that line that usually comes up for us. It was good to see those guys respond in the third [period].”
New York Islanders forward John Tavares on the team chasing a possible playoff spot…
“Not much has been accomplished just yet so we’ve got to focus on next game. Obviously, we’re happy with the result [tonight] but it doesn’t mean a whole lot if we can’t get some momentum here.”
New York Islanders forward John Tavares on the team responding after giving up a two-goal lead…
“Two goals in the first ten minutes, there is so much game left so obviously, [the Capitals] have been playing well lately and they’re playing at home and they feed off the crowd. At times, we were not playing our best but we stuck with it and did a pretty good job in our end for the most part and found a way in the third period to generate some chances and finally get one late. I think it’s a good win, those are tough games, you’ve got to learn to win those games.”
New York Islanders forward Kyle Okposo on how tonight’s game played out…
“We had some surges where we played well and we didn’t give [the Capitals] a whole lot in the second half of that second period and then we came out in the third [period] and [the Capitals] had the momentum. They came at us but at the end of the day, we found a way to win, and that’s what we needed is two points.”
New York Islanders forward Kyle Okposo on the team getting the win after losing the two-goal lead…
“You’ve just got to keep going and find ways to win and find ways to keep getting chances and know that they’re going to go in. You can’t get frustrated and we found a way to win tonight.”