The scene plays out nearly every night in the NHL: The head coach calls a timeout and draws up a play for his team during a critical juncture of the game. But how many times have you seen one of his players grab the marker from the coach and diagram his own play on the whiteboard?
That's what New York Islanders star John Tavares did to Coach Jack Capuano with 1 second remaining in their game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night:
"OK, Kyle, you're gonna skate out about 5 feet and then Mac, you do a belly slide towards the crease, and then P.A., I'm gonna have you start squawking like a large seagull, and …"
[Tavares grabs pen]
"Or I'll just take the faceoff and you guys — represented by these here aggressively drawn arrows — go to the [expletive] net because I'm. Tired. Of. Losing. Jack. Can I call you Jack?"
The Islanders' rally would fall short, losing to the Flyers, 3-2.
As the Islanders near elimination, the heat on Capuano has grown, with blogs writing things like "you have no idea what you're doing, and that's unfortunate."
This clip will likely be used to further that point, but honestly: Who knows what the dynamic is here? Maybe this is the norm for Tavares and his coach. Dude was the Oshawa Generals' Scholastic Player of the Year in 2007—08; wouldn't you defer to him too?
(This may once again be our Jack Capuano Fan Club status clouding our opinion of him. But we just can't quit that loveable slob.)