The Islanders’ 5-3 win over the Penguins may have come at a costly price for their defense.
Arthur Staple of Newsday reports blue liner Andrew MacDonald broke his hand in the third period of tonight’s game and may be done for the remainder of the playoffs. MacDonald’s final shift of the game saw him take a penalty for holding but rather than going to the box, he headed to the locker room and did not return.
New York’s defense cannot afford to lose a guy like MacDonald as the bulk of their minutes are being played by Lubomir Visnovsky, Mark Streit, and Travis Hamonic. Brian Strait has played well at times, penalties aside, but MacDonald is too important to lose.
Pittsburgh hasn’t had trouble scoring on the Islanders in this series and losing an important player on the blue line won’t do anything to help that.