Islanders’ forward Mikhail Grabovski had to watch the first four games of the playoffs series between New York and Washington, still recovering from a concussion he suffered on Feb. 19. What stood out to him was how physical the series was, and having not played for more than two months, Grabovski hasn’t been hit in a game in some time.
He saw how his teammate, defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky, went out of Game 4 with a suspected concussion after a hard hit by Washington’s Tom Wilson and now won’t play in Game 5. But Grabovski said his pregame jitters aren’t over absorbing contact again, but just an uncertainty of how he’ll play.