Islanders seek better start against Kings

In a way, the Islanders' current situation is as plain as the nose on defenseman Andrew MacDonald's face. The small gash and the fact that the nose is broken represent Thursday night's end to the team's season-best four-game winning streak.

But MacDonald, who suffered the injury at Ottawa on Tuesday and practiced with a new cage on his helmet Friday, shrugged off this latest bump in the road. "It's not displaced or anything," he said. So he and his mates will carry on.

They play the Los Angeles Kings Saturday night at Nassau Coliseum. After a crisp one-hour workout Friday, coach Jack Capuano said he would show the team video of Thursday's 6-3 loss to Boston - marked by a listless first period.

"One thing I like to do," Capuano said, "is show them when we don't do it the right way, what happens. And when we do it the correct way, we have some success. It's not a coincidence we had 22 shots in the second period [after only four in the first]; we started doing the things we have to do."

The team's 21-30-7 record says less about the Islanders' current state than their 6-3 mark this month despite their endless rummaging around for a healthy goaltender. But Capuano hardly was thrilled with Thursday's first period. "We've gotta move our feet," he said. "We just stood around and watched. We didn't move the puck quick enough, didn't get the puck off our sticks, our forecheck was nonexistent. That period, we weren't into it mentally. The second and third period, we played pretty good hockey.''

And he welcomes jumping right back into it against Los Angeles, whose only three losses in their last 11 games came after regulation - one in overtime, two in shootouts. "I like to play a lot of games," Capuano said. "It gives guys an opportunity to redeem themselves. The guys that struggled [against Boston], they want a chance to get back in there and prove themselves."

It's a bit like MacDonald's nose situation. He finished the game at Ottawa wearing a plastic bubble borrowed from Bruno Gervais, and "with a couple of nose plugs, there were times when I had to rip the helmet off to catch my breath." The wire cage "is a little restricting visually," he said, but an improvement.

So, onward . . .