Alexander Romanov Misses Practice: Lines, Other Practice Notes

EAST MEADOW, NY – Alexander Romanov missed practice on Monday morning, two days after missing Saturday evening’s collapse against the Florida Panthers.

Islanders President and General Manager Lou Lamoriello deemed Romanov “day-to-day” and boldly declared Romanov would play in Tuesday’s game against Anaheim “without question.”

Now that Romanov is not skating again on Monday, it’s officially a question. Romanov got hurt against the New Jersey Devils on Friday after receiving a massive hit from Kurtis MacDermid, which sent Romanov’s helmet flying.

Romanov followed that big hit on his next shift by burying Jack Hughes. Postgame, when NYI Hockey Now asked Romanov if it’s a point of pride for him to get up off the mat and lay that big hit on Jack Hughes right after he got crushed, he said:

“Yeah. It is. They hit me, I’m going to hit him them. I’m going to hit their best player.”

As powerful as that quote is alone, the fire in his eyes tells the story. Romanov meant every ounce of his answer and seemed surprised it was even a question.

Other Notes From Practice:

Matt Martin and Oliver Wahlstrom made up the definitive extra forwards at practice, signaling they’ll be the healthy scratches against the Anaheim Ducks tomorrow night.

Overall, the lineup may remain unchanged except for Hudson Fasching making his season debut instead of Martin on the fourth line.

The lines looked like this:

Forwards:

Simon Holmstrom – Bo Horvat – Mat Barzal

Maxim Tsyplakov – Brock Nelson – Kyle Palmieri

Anders Lee – Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Casey Cizikas

Pierre Engvall – Kyle MacLean – Hudson Fasching

Defense:

Mike Reilly – Noah Dobson

Adam Pelech – Ryan Pulock

Dennis Cholowski – Scott Mayfield

Goalies:

Ilya Sorokin

Semyon Varlamov

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Lineup Thoughts:

If those lines carry into tomorrow, Romanov’s injury becomes more of a story. The Islanders depart for a three-game road trip to Columbus and Buffalo before the third leg is at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers on Sunday.

Simon Holmstrom remains on the Islanders’ top line despite the line not yet producing a point together at 5v5. Now, there really isn’t another fit for the line, either. The Islanders could slide Casey Cizikas back up to line one, but to this point, Roy has shown no interest in it.

Pierre Engvall, despite the NHL world talking about Head Coach Patrick Roy’s comments postgame Tuesday. Specifically, Roy said of Engvall: “We know what he did for this team the past two years, and I guess Lou thought it was a good moment for him to be back and play.”

Roy said that a few hours after Lou said every decision is made in lockstep, Roy raised eyebrows league-wide. The Islanders group needs to be better as a whole. But it’s time for Engvall to step up and silence all the noise.

It seems Hudson Fasching also gets his first crack in the lineup this year. He’s played just over half of the last two seasons with the Islanders and looks to earn a permanent spot on line four.