Anthony Beauvillier missed the Islanders’ 3-0 loss to the Hurricanes on Saturday night after he went hard into the boards Friday and left the team’s win over the Devils.
The Islanders skated Saturday with Hudson Fasching taking Beauvillier’s place, slotting onto the third line with Zach Parise and Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
Simon Holmstrom moved to the second line with Anders Lee and Brock Nelson, and Josh Bailey played on the first line with Josh Bailey and Mathew Barzal.
Coach Lane Lambert said before the game that Beauvillier would be a game-time decision, so it seems at least possible that he could be back in time for the match Tuesday at Boston.
Beauvillier has been struggling lately, though (he has just five points over his past 18 games and often has failed to make an impact), so it’s not incomprehensible that Fasching could play his way into an extended stay in the lineup.
On Saturday, though, the Islanders seemed to miss the speed Beauvillier brings, as they succumbed to the Hurricanes, who forechecked hard and made life difficult getting through the neutral zone.
“We just played slow, so certainly Beau adds speed to our lineup and he has an element of speed,” Lambert said. “But we just played slow all the way around.”
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According to Lambert, that had more to do with a mindset than the presence, or lack thereof, of any particular player.
“We needed to move the puck quicker and because we didn’t move it quickly enough, they were on top of us,” he said. “As a result, they were coming back at us the other way.”
Ilya Sorokin stopped 28 of 31 shots in losing his fourth straight game. It’s his longest losing streak since Nov. 11-Dec. 4 of last season, when the Islanders were in the midst of a nightmare 11-game skid.
The Islanders debuted their retro jerseys, bringing back the Fisherman logo that was maligned upon its debut in the 1990s. With the benefit of time, that wound seems to have healed for a fan base that enthusiastically greeted the logo both when it was announced and when the Islanders took the ice wearing it.
Lambert said the team would decide in the next day or two whether Adam Pelech or Kyle Palmieri would come on the upcoming five-game road trip, which begins in Boston on Tuesday. Both players missed the game Saturday with upper-body injuries.
The Hurricanes played without Sebastian Aho and Jesper Fast, skating with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
