The Islanders are playing their best hockey of the season, but they are suddenly facing as bad an injury crisis as they’ve had in a season filled with them.
As soon as they brought Tony DeAngelo in to help fill the hole left by Noah Dobson’s right leg injury, the Islanders lost Ryan Pulock on the very first shift of Saturday’s 3-2 overtime win over Carolina.
And, for good measure, backup goalie Marcus Hogberg also left the game at the end of regulation.
So, if you are counting, the Islanders are currently without their two top right-handed defenseman and two of the organization’s top three goalies, with Semyon Varlamov having been on the shelf with a lower-body issue since the beginning of December.
Coach Patrick Roy would only say after the game that Pulock and Hogberg both suffered upper-body injuries, with no indication of a timetable for either.
Pulock, before Saturday, was the only defenseman in the Islanders’ top four who had yet to miss a game this season.
After pulling a rabbit out of the hat by bringing in DeAngelo to replace Noah Dobson, it’s not clear what move the Islanders can make to spell Pulock, should this absence be of any length.
Dennis Cholowski is the obvious in-house replacement, but is left-handed (Pulock is right-handed) and the Islanders just got DeAngelo in part to avoid putting Cholowski and Isaiah George on their third pair for an extended period.
It’s hard to believe that’s something they would opt to settle for if Pulock misses extended time.
But they might not have a choice.
Though he was eligible to return after serving a three-game suspension, Maxim Tsyplakov was made a healthy scratch against Carolina, with Roy opting to keep the same group of 12 forwards that he iced throughout the previous three games, all of which were wins.
“It’s hard when you win three in a row to make some changes,” Roy said pregame. “They all deserve to play and Max understands that as well.”
The Islanders put Dobson (right leg) on long-term injured reserve, which allowed them to add DeAngelo to the roster without sending anybody down.
It is going to be a delicate balance, however, for Roy to handle the situation going forward.
Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall were both in Carolina’s lineup on Saturday following the blockbuster deal on Friday night which sent both to the Hurricanes with Martin Necas and Jack Drury going to Colorado while the Blackhawks got a third-round pick in return for facilitating.
“When you’re losing people, that’s tough, especially people that have been around for a long time,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “But you see the big picture. The potential there is exciting for the group.”
