Filppula, Clutterbuck injuries could prove costly

This could be a problem. The injury bug is hitting the Islanders at a difficult time. They lost forwards Valtteri Filppula and Cal Clutterbuck to upper-body injuries during a 5-0 loss to the Bruins on Tuesday night at the Coliseum.

Coach Barry Trotz didn’t have any immediate update on either player, but if they lose Filppula, they will be rather short at center. That was already seen when Casey Cizikas missed the previous two games with a lower-body strain, re- turning for this one after Leo Komarov had done what he could down the middle for the previous two.

Josh Bailey has also played center during his career, as has Anthony Beauvillier. Natural wingers Michael Dal Colle, Ross Johnston and Tom Kuhnhackl were the scratches, and there isn’t a center really knocking down the door at AHL Bridgeport.

“We’ll talk about that organizationally,” Trotz said. “I’ve used [Bailey] there, Leo there. We have a couple young kids on the farm. I think that will be an organizational talk with where we want to go with that.”

Filppula seemingly was hurt when he was planted into the backboards by Connor Clifton midway through the first period, after having played just 2:57. It was difficult to tell when Clutterbuck might have been hurt. His last shift came at 12:31 of the second period. He missed three games this month with a presumed concussion after he took a puck behind his right ear while sitting on the bench.

➤ Goalie Robin Lehner made his first start since getting railroaded by the Senators’ Brady Tkachuk on March 5, and he gave up five goals on 39 shots.

“After the first few minutes, I felt like I kind of got into the game a little bit,” Lehner said. “Obviously I wanted to have a better return than this. There wasn’t much positive.” ➤ Matt Martin decided to fight 6-foot-9 Zdeno Chara at the start of the second period. When asked how he had approached the towering Boston cap- tain, Martin kind of chuckled.

“That’s a really good question, actually,” Martin said, with a small mark under his left eye coming from Chara’s overhand right. “He’s a big, strong guy, and he’s been in a few [fights] himself. You definitely try to get his right arm, but it’s not the easiest thing to do in the world, when you’re swinging and coming up short. It’s not a good feeling.”

➤ Defenseman Johnny Boychuk remained out for the fifth straight game, the fourth straight as a healthy scratch.