The New York Islanders lost Alexander Romanov for six to eight months after he tore an ACL against the New York Rangers, a blow that forced an immediate reshuffle on defense as they faced the Chicago Blackhawks at UBS Arena on Thursday night.
Scott Mayfield was expected to make his season debut alongside Tony DeAngelo, while Pete DeBoer moved Logan Stanley next to Matthew Schaefer and kept Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock together. That is the kind of adjustment that tells you a lineup is being repaired on the fly, not merely rotated.
The timing mattered because the Islanders had just come off a 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Tuesday and needed to answer it without one of their most reliable defenders. Romanov had also missed most of last season after shoulder surgery, so this absence lands as a separate setback rather than a lingering afterthought.
There was one small step forward elsewhere. Mat Barzal skated on his own for the first time since suffering a lower-body injury on Thursday morning, though he remained out for the game. That matters because his return would give the Islanders a different kind of puck carrier, but the fact that he was still limited showed how thin the margin remains for a team already shuffling its blue line.
Chicago arrived with some momentum after its first win of the season, a 4-2 victory over St. Louis, but it remained without Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen. The Blackhawks also brought a matchup inside the matchup, with Victor Eklund and Anton Frondell set to face each other in the NHL for the first time after growing together with Djurgårdens and helping Sweden capture the 2026 World Junior Championship.
For the Islanders, the next checkpoint is less about style than survival. Ilya Sorokin was expected to start, and the more immediate question is whether the club can stabilize the defense long enough for Mayfield’s debut to settle in while Romanov’s absence stretches far beyond this week.
