RALEIGH, N.C. — The good news first: Sebastian Aho was back in the Islanders’ lineup on Sunday.
Now the bad news: Alexander Romanov missed the game against Carolina, possibly due to what looked like an arm injury suffered on Saturday night.
Romanov returned to the game against the Lightning to play the third period after getting treatment at the end of the second, and coach Lane Lambert said afterward that the defenseman did not have any lingering issue, “that I know of.”
Overnight, the situation seemed to have changed, with Lambert saying after the 2-1 loss to Carolina that Romanov was day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Losing Romanov would be a blow for an Islanders defense corps in which the 23-year-old Russian has become a staple of the top-four, fitting well alongside Ryan Pulock.
In recent weeks, Romanov has settled into the Islanders’ system after taking some time this season to acclimate following a trade from Montreal.
A light schedule the rest of the way — the Isles play their last four games over a 10-day span and if they make the playoffs, will likely have some time between the regular-season finale and Game 1 of the first round — should help.
But there is some urgency to the situation after the Isles dropped two games over the weekend, fumbling their sense of playoff security with it.
As a result of the injury, Samuel Bolduc stayed in the lineup, starting alongside Noah Dobson on the third pair, while Aho started on the second pair with Pulock. On a night where breakouts were a constant issue, though, the defense pairs were in constant flux.
“I thought [Aho] played pretty well,” Lambert said after Aho skated 16:49, took a penalty, had three shots on net and was credited with a giveaway.
Josh Bailey drew into the lineup for Simon Holmstrom, skating on the third line with Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Zach Parise. Anders Lee moved back to the first line with Bo Horvat and Hudson Fasching.
Bailey finished the game without a shot on net over 13:36 of ice tiime as the revamped top line struggled.
According to Natural Stat Trick, Lee, Horvat and Fasching were outshot 5-2 in 9:49 on the ice together with a 26.26 expected goals percentage, while being on the ice for Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s goal, which tied the game at one.
Ilya Sorokin started on a back-to-back for the second time this season after getting pulled during the second period on Saturday night in Tampa.