Islanders' Adam Pelech misses second straight game with injury

The Islanders were shorthanded. Again.

And it is an open question when they will be whole again.

Defenseman Adam Pelech missed his second straight game because of an undisclosed injury as the Isles lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-0, on Saturday night at UBS Arena.

Pelech suffered the injury in the third period of Tuesday’s 7-4 loss to the Blues when St. Louis’ Robert Bortuzzo barreled into him.

The force of the hit drove Pelech back-first into the end boards. He stayed down on the ice for a few moments and — once play was halted — needed help from a trainer and Josh Bailey to get off the ice.

Pelech did not return to the game and did not travel with the team to Newark for Friday night’s 6-4 win over the Devils.

“We’re going to see how he progresses in the next day or so and then we’ll make that decision,” Lane Lambert said when asked if he expects the defenseman to join the team on a five-game road trip that begins Tuesday in Boston.

Partnered with Ryan Pulock on the Islanders’ top pair, Pelech has had a strong start to the 2022-23 season. He played in each of their first 27 games before Friday night and had three goals and eight assists while averaging 20:49 of ice time.

Robin Salo dressed in Pelech’s place on Friday and was credited with a shot on goal in 7:25.

“Everyone knows his importance and value to the team,” Lambert said of Pelech. “To a man, guys recognize that they have to step up [and] I thought we did a pretty good job of it [Friday] night.”

Salo had 18 shifts and played 16:10 on Saturday night.

Isles files

Scott Mayfield played 21:06 on Saturday and blocked a team-high six shots . . . Pulock played a team-high 23:00 against Carolina . . . Zach Parise led the Isles in hits with five.