Ailing Hamonic may miss postseason opener

As if the Islanders didn’t face enough of a daunting task going up against the NHL’s top goalscorer in Alex Ovechkin, theymay have to do so without their goto shutdown defenseman Travis Hamonic.

Jack Capuano had no real update on Hamonic’s status on Monday, but the coach acknowledged the lowerbody injury suffered on Friday could keep him out when the Isles open their playoff series in Washington on Wednesday.

“I’ve thought a lot about that,” Capuano said after practice Monday about possibly not having Hamonic. “He thrives on playing against other teams’ top lines.”

Not many lines are more dangerous than the one featuring Ovechkin, whose 53 goals and 25 powerplay tallies were the most in the NHL during the regular season and Nicklas Backstrom, who had more assists ( 60) than anyone else in the league.

“He’s got a hard shot,” goalie Jaroslav Halak said of Ovechkin. “Probably the best shot in the league. Even though everyone knows where he’s going to shoot from, he still gets the puck and scores.”

One of the ways the Isles will try to contain Ovechkin is by limiting penalties, since — not surprisingly — Ovechkin makes Washington the most effective team in the league with a manadvantage.

“We’ll try to stay out of the box,” Cal Clutterbuck said. “The goal is to prevent him from having time and space to take a shot. Losing [ Hamonic] would be a big blow to us, but we have other guys who can step in and do the job.”

In Hamonic’s absence on Saturday, Capuano turned to Calvin de Haan. The Isles also recalled Griffin Reinhart on Monday. The 21yearold appeared in eight games with the Islanders this season, spending most of the year with AHL Bridgeport.

But Capuano will look to the entire defensive unit for help.

“If Travis is out, [ Nick] Leddy and [ Johnny] Boychuk will have to step up,” Capuano said. “We’ve got some experienced guys and we’re going to need them. Our best players have got to be our best players.” It won’t be easy. “It’s hard to replace those minutes and physicality and the allaround game,” John Tavares said. “[ Hamonic] brings a big part to our back end. But whoever is there has to play their strengths and not try to play like Travis does.”