Islanders coach Jack Capuano

It’s not that rare to see hockey players leave a game with an injury, but it’s rarer to see that happen to the head coach. That’s what happened to New York Islanders’ head coach Jack Capuano in the third period of their second-round series opener against the Tampa Bay Lightning Thursday night, though. A puck traveling through the neutral zone took a deflection and went into the Islanders’ bench, where it  hit Capuano in the face:

Capuano left the game, while assistant coach/assistant general manager Doug Weight took over with the help of fellow assistant Greg Cronin, and fellow assistant coach Bob Corkum came down from his position in the booth:

The arena’s decision to play Queen’s “We Will Rock You” afterwards took some criticism, too:

https://twitter.com/barstooltweets/status/725495969660436480

The Islanders were leading 4-2 when Capuano was hurt. The Lightning scored inside the final three minutes to make it 4-3, but then Capuano returned to the bench, albeit with what looks like a broken nose:

Despite some further pressure from the Lightning, the Islanders scored an empty-netter in the final minute and hung on for a 5-3 win. Here’s hoping Capuano’s all right going forward.

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.