CALGARY, Alberta — The Islanders finally took the primary big step toward getting whole again Tuesday as Alexander Romanov returned from an upper-body injury to play his first game in greater than two weeks against the Flames.
Romanov had been constructing toward a return from an upper-body injury throughout this five-game trip, joining the team for practice in Edmonton last week in a non-contact jersey and shedding it in recent days.
While the Islanders are still waiting for Mat Barzal, Anthony Duclair, Adam Pelech and Mike Reilly — none of whom have begun skating as yet — Romanov, who rejoined the highest defensive pair with Noah Dobson, is arguably a very powerful piece of the group.
The Russian skated 21:04 within the 2-1 shootout loss to the Flames, recording a team-high eight hits together with a pair of shots on net.
“He looked great,” Dobson said. “Did well. It’s demanding being out for an prolonged time period. Coming back, I believed he looked good, made plays. It was nice to have him back.”
As a domino effect of Romanov coming back in, Isaiah George was bumped all the way down to the second pair with Ryan Pulock. Scott Mayfield went to the third pair with Dennis Cholowski, while Grant Hutton got here out of the lineup as a healthy scratch.
Prior to missing 10 of 11 games heading into Tuesday, Romanov had taken up the mantle because the Islanders’ best defensive defenseman, averaging 21:37 of ice and displaying continued growth after a robust 2023-24 campaign.
While George’s emergence modified the equation on the Islanders blue line, getting back a minutes-eater in Romanov — who can also be on the highest penalty-kill unit — is a sigh of relief for a team that spent greater than two weeks holding its defense corps along with duct tape and glue.
Calgary’s Matt Coronato, a native of Greenlawn, N.Y., said the sport against the Islanders was circled on the calendar after he grew up rooting for the team.
“My favorite [player] was Nick Leddy, actually,” the 22-year-old Coronato said, making everyone else within the room feel quite old. “Used to play D after I was little, so I at all times loved his skating.”
Coronato has played recently on the Flames top line together with Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman, scoring five goals with two assists thus far this season.
“He still has a number of swagger offensively with the puck, but I feel now with where we’re using him, he can impact things inside the game,” Flames coach Ryan Huska said. “Key times of the sport, Mikael and Blake or on the ice, so which means he’s on the market, nevertheless it’s not only, ‘He’s on that line, let’s keep him there.’ He’s on the market because he’s done a very good job and he’s earned that extra little bit of ice time.”
Roy said that “the whole lot went well” with Reilly’s heart procedure. The defenseman is out indefinitely after a heart issue was discovered during concussion testing.
CALGARY, Alberta — The Islanders finally took the primary big step toward getting whole again Tuesday as Alexander Romanov returned from an upper-body injury to play his first game in greater than two weeks against the Flames.
Romanov had been constructing toward a return from an upper-body injury throughout this five-game trip, joining the team for practice in Edmonton last week in a non-contact jersey and shedding it in recent days.
While the Islanders are still waiting for Mat Barzal, Anthony Duclair, Adam Pelech and Mike Reilly — none of whom have begun skating as yet — Romanov, who rejoined the highest defensive pair with Noah Dobson, is arguably a very powerful piece of the group.
The Russian skated 21:04 within the 2-1 shootout loss to the Flames, recording a team-high eight hits together with a pair of shots on net.
“He looked great,” Dobson said. “Did well. It’s demanding being out for an prolonged time period. Coming back, I believed he looked good, made plays. It was nice to have him back.”
As a domino effect of Romanov coming back in, Isaiah George was bumped all the way down to the second pair with Ryan Pulock. Scott Mayfield went to the third pair with Dennis Cholowski, while Grant Hutton got here out of the lineup as a healthy scratch.
Prior to missing 10 of 11 games heading into Tuesday, Romanov had taken up the mantle because the Islanders’ best defensive defenseman, averaging 21:37 of ice and displaying continued growth after a robust 2023-24 campaign.
While George’s emergence modified the equation on the Islanders blue line, getting back a minutes-eater in Romanov — who can also be on the highest penalty-kill unit — is a sigh of relief for a team that spent greater than two weeks holding its defense corps along with duct tape and glue.
Calgary’s Matt Coronato, a native of Greenlawn, N.Y., said the sport against the Islanders was circled on the calendar after he grew up rooting for the team.
“My favorite [player] was Nick Leddy, actually,” the 22-year-old Coronato said, making everyone else within the room feel quite old. “Used to play D after I was little, so I at all times loved his skating.”
Coronato has played recently on the Flames top line together with Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman, scoring five goals with two assists thus far this season.
“He still has a number of swagger offensively with the puck, but I feel now with where we’re using him, he can impact things inside the game,” Flames coach Ryan Huska said. “Key times of the sport, Mikael and Blake or on the ice, so which means he’s on the market, nevertheless it’s not only, ‘He’s on that line, let’s keep him there.’ He’s on the market because he’s done a very good job and he’s earned that extra little bit of ice time.”
Roy said that “the whole lot went well” with Reilly’s heart procedure. The defenseman is out indefinitely after a heart issue was discovered during concussion testing.
