The Islanders thought on Saturday that they would at least be playing with two-thirds of their usual defense corps.
Turns out, even that was too much a luxury.
Alexander Romanov joined Mike Reilly and Adam Pelech as being sidelined against the Rangers with an upper-body injury, with his status being described as day-to-day.
Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov (28) hits Sabres center Tage Thompson (72) on Nov. 1, 2024. AP
So it was Samuel Bolduc, Grant Hutton and Dennis Cholowski replacing the trio, with the Islanders having just two natural lefties of the six D-men in their lineup at Madison Square Garden.
It is an injury nightmare reminiscent of three years ago, when a COVID-19 outbreak forced the Islanders to open up UBS Arena with a similarly depleted blue line.
In a match also against the Rangers on Nov. 24, 2021, the Islanders were memorably down five of their six regular blue-liners, playing a lineup that included Robin Salo, Sebastian Aho, Paul LaDue, Thomas Hickey and Hutton — none of whom had played on that season’s opening night — in a 4-1 loss to the Blueshirts.
Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech (3) leaves the game holding his face after getting injured against the Sabres on Nov. 1, 2024. APThe fallout from that COVID outbreak, which saw the Islanders lose 10 in a row and go until December without a home win, essentially ended the competitive portion of their season early.
Right now, that is what the Islanders are hoping to avoid.
