ELMONT, N.Y. — New York Islanders star defenseman Noah Dobson exited Thursday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens due to an upper-body injury that ended his night early.
With no clear incident suggesting an injury was sustained, Dobson exited the game just 5:33 into the first period after checking Canadiens winger Cole Caufield in the corner of the Islanders’ zone. He did not return for the remainder of the game.
“We’ll have a better idea tomorrow of how things are,” head coach Patrick Roy said after his team’s 3-2 victory over Montreal.
Roy was forced to blend his defensive pairings as Dobson’s usual partner, Alex Romanov, took shifts with both Sebastian Aho and Ryan Pulock.
“You don’t want to lose someone that early, especially a defenseman,” Roy said. “We played five. [Aho] came in and played a great game and I thought all the guys did a really nice job taking those minutes.”
Losing Dobson for any sort of time would be an immeasurable blow to New York. The 24-year-old is their most talented blueliner, continuing his ascent to stardom this season. Through 78 games, he had 10 goals and 60 assists, joining the legendary Denis Potvin as the only other Islanders defenseman to record 60 or more assists in a single season.
“It was tough [to lose him],” Kyle Palmieri, who scored the game-winning goal in overtime on Thursday night, said. “He’s our QB on PP 1, he plays a lot of minutes for us and he’s having a great season, so hopefully he’s OK.”
Following Thursday night’s win against the Canadiens, the Islanders have just three regular-season games remaining as they attempt to clinch the No. 3 spot in the Metropolitan Division and with it, a postseason berth.
