TAMPA, Fla. _They were more or less the first words out of Jack Capuano's mouth on Thursday morning when asked how the Islanders could avoid a rout like the one the Lightning handed to them just nine days earlier.
"Stay out of the box," Capuano said, noting that the Isles allowed two early power-play goals to the Lightning last week in Brooklyn.
Apparently the message did not get through. The Islanders took three minors in the opening period and five in the first half of the game, giving the Lightning's deadly power play loads of time and two more goals that sent the Isles on to a 4-1 loss here on Thursday night.
That made 12 power-play goals the Islanders have allowed in the past eight games after permitting one in the first six. Just another reason why the Isles are still bobbing along below .500, 2-4-2 in the last eight while the Metro Division playoff teams make space for themselves.
"We're probably one of the most penalized teams in the league _ and it's not the refs, you know what I mean?" an exasperated Johnny Boychuk said. "We should've learned from the last game against them ... You can kill the ones that are worth killing."
John Tavares elbowed Tyler Johnson along the boards 6:38 in, stopping cold the decent start to the game the Islanders had put together as they didn't allow a Tampa shot on goal until that time.
But with the power play, the Lightning seized control quickly. Johnson threaded a pass across the high slot for Steven Stamkos, whose wrist shot ticked off Boychuk's skate and past Jaroslav Halak for a Tampa lead.
The Lightning extended it less than three minutes later on Nikita Kucherov's wrist shot that zipped past Halak after some sloppy play from Tavares' line in the defensive zone.
The Islanders escaped further penalty kill trouble despite Anders Lee and Andrew Ladd taking stick fouls in the first. Not so in the second, when Calvin de Haan was whistled for interference when he knocked down Cedric Paquette in the crease 2:17 into the second.
This time Stamkos made the seam pass across for Johnson's one-timer that made it 3-0 and sent an angry Halak to the bench for Thomas Greiss. Capuano wasn't too pleased with Halak, who seemed fairly helpless on at least the two power-play goals.
"It's about whether you feel he's focused or not, that's all," Capuano said of the decision to pull Halak after three goals and 16 shots against. "We've got to find a way to kill a penalty, our goaltender included."
The Isles having to kill early penalties not only has set them back on the scoreboard, it sets any offensive flow back by putting most of their top players on the bench for too long _ or in the penalty box.
"It's no secret that the amount of penalties we take is hurting us and it starts with myself," said Tavares, who now has 16 penalty minutes this season.
The Islanders controlled long stretches of the second period, pulling to 3-1 on Andrew Ladd's second goal in as many games at 8:04. But a turnover at the defensive blue line turned into a Brian Boyle wrister past Greiss at 1:08 of the third and there wasn't more to say or do, despite the Isles throwing 32 shots on Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Confidence seems to be in short supply with this 5-7-2 team that heads across Florida to face the Panthers on Saturday before seeing this same Lightning team in Brooklyn on Monday for the third and final time this regular season.
"The power-play goals are killing us," Shane Prince said. "We were good five on five tonight. But it can't help us now."
