The New York Islanders finally ended their three-game losing streak on Friday night. Now they need to hope that it wasn’t the most costly day of their season.
The short-handed Islanders will face a tough stretch without at least two of their key players when they play the New York Rangers on Sunday afternoon. This is their first meeting of the season between these longtime rivals.
Both teams had a day off on Saturday after winning by one goal on Friday night. The Islanders narrowly beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-3, while the Rangers managed to defeat the Ottawa Senators 2-1.
The much-needed victory came with serious consequences for the Islanders, who started the game without first-line center Mathew Barzal (upper body injury).
They also lost defensemen Adam Pelech and Mike Reilly to upper-body injuries in a two-minute span during the second period. Pelech was hit in the face by a puck, and Reilly fell on his head after being checked by Jordan Greenway.
On Saturday, the Islanders announced that Reilly is day-to-day. However, Pelech and Barzal—who was injured in Wednesday’s 2-0 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets—were both placed on injured reserve and are expected to be out for four to six weeks. Barzal was moved to long-term IR, meaning he must miss at least 10 games and 24 days.
Defensemen Samuel Bolduc and Grant Hutton were called up from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League.
The Islanders, who had scored only 26 goals this season—making it the third-fewest in the NHL before Saturday—were already missing fellow first-liner Anthony Duclair, who is on injured reserve after hurting his right leg on October 19.
Islanders coach Patrick Roy expressed confidence that his veteran team would handle this latest challenge well.
“It really stinks losing guys — I mean, don’t get me wrong — but at the same time, this is the reality of today,” Roy said. “We need to find ways to win games, and you know what? I do trust this room. This is a strong group, and the players care. There’s a lot of leadership here.”
The Rangers have also struggled to score. They started the season with 31 goals in their first six games but managed just eight goals in their last four games (2-2-0).
In those last four games, the Rangers were outshot 148-95, including 41-18 by the Senators on Friday and 46-19 by the Washington Capitals in a 5-3 loss on Tuesday night.
Goaltender Igor Shesterkin made at least 40 saves in back-to-back games for the first time since February 9-11, 2020, when he had 42 saves in two wins against the Los Angeles Kings and Winnipeg Jets.
“It’s nice to have a goaltender who can make those saves, but that’s not what we’re looking for,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “It’s great that he is performing well, but we still need to improve.”
The Rangers are expected to strengthen their forward lineup on Sunday, as winger Jimmy Vesey is set to make his season debut.
Activated from long-term injured reserve on Saturday, Vesey missed the last four games of the Eastern Conference final due to an upper-body injury and has been out this season because of a lower-body injury he sustained in training camp.
