Islanders Face Injury Concerns After Loss to Rangers

The Islanders were down to ten men for the last 12:04 of their 5-2 defeat against the Rangers on Tuesday night, with Alexander Romanov leaving the game due to what appeared to be an injury.

Coach Pete DeBoer didn’t provide an update on Romanov’s condition, only stating he was “still being evaluated.”

Interestingly, there wasn’t any particular moment in the game that seemed to cause the injury.

Romanov’s injury history adds a layer of concern here. Last season, he only played 15 games due to a shoulder injury that required surgery. The prior season, he missed almost 20 games because of ongoing issues.

This season didn’t start smoothly for him either. He was working on regaining his form and had a bit of a mixed night, finishing with a minus-1 rating when he exited.

Logan Stanley, whom DeBoer described as “one of our better defensemen tonight,” took on much of Romanov’s workload in the third period, logging 19:21 of ice time.

If Romanov is sidelined for an extended period, a key question arises: will the Islanders bring up Isaiah George, who was expected to be a third-pair defenseman before losing that spot, or might they go for Kashawn Aitcheson, the top prospect who likely outperformed George in training camp?

This decision needs to be made by Thursday, as the Islanders are set to play the Blackhawks at home then.

Meanwhile, Simon Holmstrom briefly exited the game after being hit in the face by a clearing attempt from Sean Durzi during the second period, resulting in quite a bit of bleeding.

DeBoer mentioned, “It might be a broken nose, but he came back and played, so he’s all right.”

This matchup was DeBoer’s first time coaching in an Islanders-Rangers game, and he found the rivalry “awesome.” He noted he hadn’t experienced anything quite like this while coaching in the Western Conference.

“There’s nothing like living in a town in New York or New Jersey where the town is split 50/50 on who’s cheering for what team,” he said. “Getting into the playoffs and having that rivalry intensify… I haven’t seen anything like that since my time coaching in Jersey when we faced the Rangers in the [2012] conference final.”