This win for the Islanders came with a heaping helping of sourness that felt eerily familiar.
The Isles beat the Blue Jackets 4-3 Thursday night at Barclays Center, inching themselves closer to locking up a postseason berth, but integral defenseman Travis Hamonic was lost early in the first period to an apparent right-knee injury, oddly similar to what happened last season when he was forced to miss the end of the regular season, as well as all seven games of his team’s first-round playoff series loss to the Capitals.
With 5:12 gone by in the first, Hamonic made a pass out of his own zone and was rushed by Blue Jackets forward Scott Hartnell, the two collided knee-on-knee, with no penalty called.