The New York Islanders secured an important road victory against the Buffalo Sabres last night, and a significant part of their success was the adversity they overcame to achieve it. At one point, it seemed like the Islanders might be without their entire left defense, which fortunately didn’t occur.
They were already missing Anthony Duclair when news broke that Mathew Barzal was returning to Long Island for an evaluation of an upper-body injury, with further updates expected soon. Then, during a five-minute stretch in the second period, Alex Romanov seemed to re-injure himself in his first game back, Adam Pelech took a puck directly to the face, and Mike Reilly sustained a severe head injury after being checked by Jordan Greenway. Reilly’s injury was particularly alarming; he was knocked out immediately upon impact and remained unconscious for several minutes. Remarkably, he managed to get up and skate off with help instead of needing a stretcher, which the Buffalo emergency team had on standby.
He also traveled back with the team instead of going to the hospital for further checks. However, when Reilly was injured, Romanov hadn’t yet returned to the bench but did so shortly after the commercial break, and the Islanders fought hard to secure a 4-3 victory. Today, prior to the Isles’ practice at the Garden in preparation for tomorrow’s game against the New York Rangers, we received some concerning injury updates
That means the Islanders will be without two-thirds of their top line until at least December, and possibly longer. Pelech is once again dealing with his usual month-long injury early in the season. Here’s how the team skated during practice.
Today, it was announced that Romanov will not participate in practice, but Patrick Roy anticipates he will be ready to play tomorrow against the Rangers, with Ilya Sorokin in goal. At least Romanov will be back, but the team is facing a challenging situation. On top of that, the Islanders will be playing seven out of their next nine games on the road, including a tough trip to Seattle and Western Canada where they typically struggle.
Perhaps they’ll find their momentum after last night’s gritty performance, and Sorokin’s skills will help keep them competitive until the rest of the top line returns to help steer the team toward success. On the other hand, the season could feel over by Thanksgiving. Time will tell!
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