Islanders Alexander Romanov returns to lineup from upper-body injury

CALGARY, Alberta — The Islanders finally took the first big step toward getting whole again Tuesday as Alexander Romanov returned from an upper-body injury to play his first game in more than two weeks against the Flames.Romanov had been building 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 top defensive pair with Noah Dobson, is arguably the most important piece of the group.The Russian skated 21:04 in the 2-1 shootout loss to the Flames, recording a team-high eight hits along with a pair of shots on net.“He looked great,” Dobson said.“Did well.

It’s not easy being out for an extended period of time.Coming back, I thought 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 down to the second pair with Ryan Pulock.Scott Mayfield went to the third pair with Dennis Cholowski, while Grant Hutton came out of the lineup as a healthy scratch.Prior to missing 10 of 11 games heading into Tuesday, Romanov had taken up the mantle as the Islanders’ best defensive defenseman, averaging 21:37 of ice and displaying continued growth after a strong 2023-24 campaign.

While George’s emergence changed the equation on the Islanders blue line, getting back a minutes-eater in Romanov — who is also on the top penalty-kill unit — is a sigh of relief for a team that spent more than two weeks holding its defense corps together with duct tape and glue.Sign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.

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