Adam Pelech returns as Islanders once again juggle defensive pairings
Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers plays the puck in the second period against Adam Pelech of the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on March 14, 2025. Credit: Jim McIsaac
PITTSBURGH — It has been, coach Patrick Roy admitted, a “weird season” for the Islanders because of injuries and illnesses. And having nine defensemen on the roster — one or two more than is typical — has sometimes not felt like enough.
Tuesday night in a crucial match against the fellow wild-card contender Penguins at PPG Paints brought the latest lineup juggling for Roy as Adam Pelech returned after missing one game because of a sore lower right leg. But Alexander Romanov and Adam Boqvist, who missed the previous two games because of an upper-body issue, were both unavailable because of an illness that has lingered through the Islanders’ room.
“It’s a weird season, I won’t lie,” Roy said. “The number of injuries and guys being sick and on and on. It seems to me like it’s never going to end. Hopefully, that’s the last one and we can play with a healthy lineup.”
It has been a factor in the Islanders’ inconsistent season as they entered Tuesday four points out of the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot and two points ahead of the Penguins.
All six of the defensemen in the opening night lineup on Oct. 10 have missed chunks of time, with Scott Mayfield’s four-game absence from Feb. 2-8 because of a lower-body injury being the shortest.
Pelech had already missed 20 games from Nov. 2 to Dec. 12 with a jaw injury. Mike Reilly just returned for Sunday night’s 4-2 win over the Panthers after missing 42 games since Nov. 1 with a heart condition detected after he suffered a concussion. Noah Dobson was out for 11 games from Jan. 24 to Feb. 25 with a lower-body injury, and Ryan Pulock missed seven games with an upper-body injury from Jan. 28 to Feb. 8. Romanov missed his 15th game between stints with an upper-body injury in October and November and an earlier bout with illness.
It's why president/general manager Lou Lamoriello had to hastily import defensemen Tony DeAngelo, Scott Perunovich and Boqvist in late January and early February.
But Pelech, who slid to block a shot early in overtime of the Islanders’ 2-1 loss to the Oilers on Friday night, said injuries are just part of the business.
“Guys break their feet and hands and fingers and stuff all the time," Pelech said. "Unfortunately, it’s just kind of part of the game."
Injuries limited Pelech to 61 and 58 games the previous two seasons, respectively, and he injured his Achilles tendon in 2019-20. So he’s gotten to know what a bad injury feels like. He was fairly certain this wasn’t that, even though he had to miss a game.
“I thought it was OK,” Pelech said. “It just wasn’t quite good enough to go against Florida. For the most part, you have a pretty good idea of whether you’re OK or not in a long-term sense and I kind of had the feeling I was going to be OK.”
Pelech paired with DeAngelo to start against the Penguins in Romanov’s usual spot, while Dobson and Pulock, both righthanders, skated together for a second straight game. Pelech had been paired with Dobson.
“I think, for him, it’s just been a lot of unfortunate breaks like pucks in the face,” Dobson said of Pelech. “You can do all the right things but you can’t control those things. But I think he’s handled it so well. It’s not easy mentally when you keep getting beat like that and taking things. But he’s done a good job. He plays hard. He lays it all on the line for the team. He’s an important piece back there and shows a lot of leadership and character on a nightly basis.”
Notes & quotes: Tuesday marked the 23rd straight game as a healthy scratch for fourth-liner Matt Martin, who has not dressed since Jan. 16. But Roy still lauded the veteran’s contribution. “He talks to the guys and he’s good in the dressing room,” Roy said. “He’s good with the guys in practice. He’s a great example of a guy that comes in and practices hard every day. When a guy is not playing and he sees him working, I think this is great leadership." . . . Perunovich remained a healthy scratch for the 10th game in a row.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
