NY Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech out tonight vs. Carolina with lower-body injury

New York Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech will miss tonight's game against the Carolina Hurricanes at UBS Arena with a lower-body injury, head coach Lane Lambert confirmed on Saturday morning. Pelech took the ice but departed before the team's morning skate. He's considered day-to-day after leaving at the 3:24 mark of the first period of Thursday's game in Washington after colliding with Capitals forward Aliaksei Protas.

On the replay, you can see that Pelech went hip-to-hip with Protas as the Washington forward entered the zone. Pelech fell awkwardly toward the boards and then gingerly got up, clearly favoring his left side. He made his way slowly to the bench and then headed off soon after.

Pelech being out of the lineup means that 22-year-old defenseman Samuel Bolduc will be drawn back into the lineup. To date, Bolduc has averaged just 8:25 TOI through seven games after being inserted into the lineup after Scott Mayfield's injury. In his first game back in the lineup since opening night, Mayfield logged over 20 minutes as the team played with five defensemen for the majority of the game.

The expectation is that Noah Dobson's streak of playing at least 25 minutes a game will likely continue while Pelech is out. Dobson has surpassed that mark in five straight games, the first Islander defenseman to do so since Travis Hamonic in 2016.

Last season, Pelech missed 21 games with an upper-body injury he suffered in early December in a home loss to the St. Louis Blues. The team went just 7-9-5 without him out of the lineup after going 16-11-0 through the first 27 games of the season. We'll see tonight how the 5-2-2 Isles perform tonight the defending Metropolitan Division champions.