May 13, 2013, New York Islanders Game Six Eastern Conference Quarterfinal notebook for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
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Islanders’ notebook: Nielsen starts, top prospect Nelson dresses
By Denis Gorman
Published: Saturday, May 11, 2013, 7:36 p.m.
Updated: Saturday, May 11, 2013
Nielsen starts, Nelson dresses
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — The cat and mouse games were in full effect Saturday even before the puck was dropped.
When asked during his morning press
conference, Islanders' coach Jack Capuano would not commit to center
Frans Nielsen or prospect Brock Nelson playing in Saturday night's Game 6
of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal.
Both dressed for the game. Nielsen was in the
starting lineup, centering a line with Kyle Okposo and Matt Moulson.
Nielsen suffered a lower body injury in the 4-0 loss in Game 5. He did
not participate in the Islanders' optional skate at Friday, but was on
the ice Saturday morning.
“(I) really haven't talked to him since the
skate but he went through the practice OK,” Capuano said. “We still have
some options if he can't go.”
While Nielsen had played in every game of the
series, Saturday was Nelson's NHL debut. The 30th overall pick in the
2010 draft, Nelson recorded 25 goals and 27 assists this year with the
Isles' AHL affiliate in Bridgeport, Conn.
“He's put on about 15 pounds; he's much stronger,” Capuano said. “He was one of their top players.
“If Brock does get in there, I said it
before: We wouldn't put a guy in we felt wasn't necessarily ready. We
feel he's ready to play.”
Now or never
The Islanders' goal heading into the
do-or-die game was twofold. The first objective was to force Game 7. The
second was to play better than they did Thursday night.
“We stopped moving our feet. We stopped
getting pucks deep. We started turning pucks over at the blueline. We
stopped doing what we needed to do to be successful for about 10
minutes, and it was 3-0,” left wing Matt Martin said. “We just have to
make sure it doesn't happen again.”
http://triblive.com/sports/penguins/3993882-74/game-nielsen-nelson#axzz2T6vIDggw
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 1:30 PM
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