It appears that Noah Dobson's injury came from friendly fire.
It appears that Noah Dobson's injury came from friendly fire.
In the first period of their 3-2 overtime victory against the Montréal Canadiens on Thursday night, New York Islanders forward Matthew Barzal seemed to suffer a lower-body injury after being interfered with by Montreal forward Michael Pezzetta at 6:12 of the first.
However, he was quite all right, getting back on the ice before the puck dropped for the Islanders' power play.
But when the power play began, Noah Dobson wasn’t quarterbacking the first unit.
That was Sebastian Aho.
It became clear quickly that Dobson was missing from the bench.
The 24-year-old failed to return, with his last shift ending at 5:33 of the first.
After the game, Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said that Dobson had suffered an upper-body injury and would be further evaluated on Friday.
With the Islanders off, we will find out any new information on Saturday morning ahead of their Broadway matinee against the Rangers.
However, looking back at the film, it looks like friendly fire caused the injury.
After defenseman Alexander Romanov went to battle Montreal forward Cole Caufield along the end-boards, Dobson came in for support.
As the puck came loose along the boards, Dobson went to scoop it up but took an accidental slash from Romanov on the left wrist, who was repositioning his stick:
Dobson made a play, taking a hit, before clutching his left hand as he skated off the ice.
It's quite possible that Dobson was hurt on the sandwich hit by Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky, too.
If the Islanders are without Dobson going forward, Roy does have a backup.
Aho can fill in as the top power-play quarterback, with Robert Bortuzzo coming back into the lineup:
Romanov-Pulock
Pelech-Aho
Reilly-Bortuzzo
However, with Dobson out, the Islanders have only two right-handers, meaning one pairing will consist of two lefties -- not ideal.
But, at this point of the season, with three games to go, the Islanders have to do what they have to do as they continue to march toward a playoff spot.
They'll have the chance to clinch on Saturday when they battle the cross-town rival New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.