And now the Islanders will hold their breath, hoping there is no hearing and subsequent suspension for Emil Heineman following his knee-on-knee hit to Isaac Howard that got him kicked out of Saturday’s match just 2:22 into the proceedings.
Though the Islanders did have a fair gripe that the hit was not initially whistled on the ice, the penalty itself was textbook. It was the second time in as many games that the Islanders lost a player in the opening minutes after Ryan Pulock exited Thursday’s win in Minnesota with injury, but this time, the Islanders never found an offensive rhythm in a 4-0 defeat to the Oilers at UBS Arena.
“I was surprised it was upheld as a major, yeah,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “But again, I haven’t looked at it that closely.”
Heineman didn’t speak in the dressing room postgame — the Islanders, and most other teams, generally don’t have players speak after they get tossed from games — and his teammates mostly said variations of what DeBoer did.
“We haven’t had a chance to really see the hit,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau said. “Obviously we hope the other guy’s all right. I know there’s no intention behind that. Heiny’s someone that plays hard and he’s always clean. To start like that, it’s obviously hard to create some momentum, but I thought we did a good job killing [the major penalty].”
The good news is that Howard, who left the game and did not return, might be all right, per Oilers coach Mike Babcock.
“We don’t think, Howard, it’s as serious as it looked,” Babcock said. “We’re hoping for a real good kind of recovery day for him tomorrow, and if he doesn’t [feel better], then we’ll get on with the medical part of looking into it. But they think it’s favorable.”
The bad news for the Islanders is that in addition to losing Heineman for essentially all of Saturday’s game, there is not an obvious replacement should he be suspended for Thursday’s match against Carolina.
They are carrying just 12 healthy forwards on their roster, and the group in AHL Hamilton is nearly as battered as the one in the NHL. Liam Foudy could be in line for a spot call-up, but none of the forward prospects — Quinn Finley, Cole Eiserman, Daniil Prokhorov — are believed to be ready.
Pulock (upper body) was seeing doctors Saturday to assess the injury sustained Thursday night in Minnesota.
Otherwise, the Islanders’ injuries are status quo, with Matias Maccelli (lower body) skating, Calum Ritchie (lower body) yet to begin skating and Mathew Barzal (left kneecap inflammation) still skating, but without any timeline.
