Well, the New York Islanders earned a big road win last night over the Buffalo Sabres, but part of what made it such a big win was the attrition they overcame to make it happen; it fortunately didn’t happen, but there was a minute where it appeared the Islanders were going to play without the entire left side of their defense.
Already without Anthony Duclair, the news broke yesterday that Mathew Barzal was returning to Long Island to be evaluated for an upper-body injury with a timeline to follow (more on that shortly). Then, during a five-minute span in the second period, Alex Romanov appeared to get re-injured in his first game back, Adam Pelech took a puck square to the face, and Mike Reilly suffered a horrifying head injury when he landed on it after a Jordan Greenway check.