Power play suffers with Dobson out
The Islanders had no choice but to go without Noah Dobson on Saturday at the Garden after the upper-body injury suffered by the defenseman two days prior was not healed in time for him to face the Rangers.
And following a 3-2 shootout loss in which the power play was downright alarming over 9:48 of time in which it allowed a shorthanded goal and never came close to scoring, the prognosis for life without Dobson does not look great. “I’m sure [missing him] has an effect, but we didn’t make good decisions with [the puck],” coach Patrick Roy said after securing a loser point that all but officially secured the Islanders a playoff berth. “There’s some options that were there and we didn’t see them. But we’re gonna keep working on it and make sure it’s gonna be part of our solution.”
Dobson, who missed his first game of the season with injury, was declared dayto-day by Roy before Saturday’s match. Beyond that, a timeline for his return is uncertain with just two games to go in the regular season.
“Well, it’s a big piece of our team but again, when we lost [Scott] Mayfield, we gave opportunity to other guys and we approach it the same way,” Roy said.
The Islanders have been beset by injuries on their blue line for most of the season, but Dobson had been the only defenseman in the opening lineup to avoid missing a game because of injury until now. Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock, Scott Mayfield, Sebastian Aho and Robert Bortuzzo have all been on the shelf for extended periods of time since October, though all but Mayfield — who is out for the remainder of the year following surgery — are healthy.
Bortuzzo returned to the lineup Saturday to spell Dobson, skating on a pair with Alexander Romanov. Aho was paired with Mike Reilly while Pelech and Pulock stayed together.
The power play had been struggling prior to Dobson’s injury, converting at just 13.2 percent from the beginning of March until he got hurt. But over an 0-for-9 stretch since, it has been a downright momentum killer, and the Islanders struggled to even get set up in the offensive zone on Saturday.
“Obviously, he’s key,” Pulock said. “I think we just maybe have to simplify. There’s highs and lows and right now, we know that this group is capable of better and has shown that previously this year.”
➤ Simon Holmstrom was made a healthy scratch as Hudson Fasching drew back in, skating on the second line with Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri.
That decision was quickly made to look good as Fasching contributed a pair of assists in his first game since April 1.