RALEIGH, N.C. — Johnny Boychuk sat out Saturday’s game with an upper-body injury, leaving the Islanders without their two regular right-handed defensemen.
Boychuk played 21:22 in Friday’s 5-2 win over the Panthers in Sunrise, Florida, but he took a hard hit from a pair of Panthers in the third period and skated away slowly.
With Travis Hamonic (knee) already sidelined and missing his third straight game on Saturday, the Isles turned to Scott Mayfield to play his fourth game of the season. Adam Pelech has already been in the lineup in place of Hamonic.
Mayfield was called up from Bridgeport on Thursday and was a healthy scratch against the Panthers.