The defenseman’s upper-body injury from two days ago did not heal in time for him to play against the Rangers, so the Islanders were forced to play without him on Saturday at the Garden. Coach Patrick Roy listed Dobson as day-to-day because of an ailment that will prevent him from playing in his opening game of the season.
After that, there are just two games left in the regular season after Saturday’s, so it’s unclear when he’ll be back. “Well, it’s a significant portion of our team, but we handle it the same way as we did when we lost [Scott] Mayfield,” Roy remarked.
For the majority of the season, the Isles’ blue line has been plagued by injuries, but up until this point, Dobson was the only player in the starting lineup to have not missed a game due to an injury.
Since October, Adam Pelech, Sebastian Aho, Scott Mayfield, Ryan Pulock, and Robert Bortuzzo have all missed significant amounts of time from the field; however, all are currently healthy with the exception of Mayfield, who will miss the rest of the season due to surgery.
Skating with Alexander Romanov, Bortuzzo made a comeback to the lineup on Saturday to fill in for Dobson. Pelech stayed with Pulock, and Aho was placed with Mike Reilly.
Fasch is still young and still learning, but we want him to play. Roy remarked, “You understand how it is. “This is further down the road, and we have no idea what will happen at the end of the season.
Everyone must be capable of playing and prepared to play. “We played this game today with Bortuzzo and Aho, just like we did the last one. With the exception of Noah, everyone is healthy, and everyone is intended to be used.