Islanders lose Cal Ritchie, Matias Maccelli for weeks

Ritchie got 1 shift in. He took a hard check from Nick Blankenburg along the boards at 1:52 of the first and never came back to the bench.

The Isles were already down to 12 forwards and it got worse 15 minutes later. Maccelli went down deep in the Leafs' zone at 16:36. Darren Raddysh went to the box for tripping, but the replay looked like Maccelli went down on his own and stretched out his left knee. He couldn't put any weight on the leg and needed 2 staffers to get him down the tunnel.

Mark Masters

@markhmasters

Maccelli slowly to the room after falling awkwardly Ritchie already left the game Islanders down two top-six forwards in the first period in Toronto @TSN_Sports

That's 2 top-six forwards gone before the first intermission, and the team ruled both out for the night early in the second. Maccelli had been the hot hand too, with 5 points in his previous 4 games in his first year on the Island. Ritchie, in his second NHL season, had a goal and an assist in 8 games.

Then the Islanders went out and played with 10 forwards for 2 full periods and handled Toronto anyway. Pierre-Edouard Duclair, sorry, Anthony Duclair, scored in the first, Bo Horvat made it 2-0 in the second, and it ended 4-1. It was the Islanders' first road win of the year, and it moved Ilya Sorokin past Chico Resch into sole possession of 2nd in team history with 158 wins. Nice night, as long as you didn't think about the trainer's room.

Ethan Sears

@ethan_sears

Gutsy 4-1 win for the Islanders down to 10 forwards. Big-picture though, the Ritchie and Maccelli injuries are major concerns.

Pete DeBoer said both guys would get looked at back on Long Island, and by Monday morning the roster moves had started. Mitchell Chaffee was emergency recalled from Hamilton, and Alexander Romanov went on IR. Chaffee is a depth body with 109 NHL games on his résumé, most recently with Tampa Bay, and he slotted onto the 4th line at practice. Neither injured forward was on the ice, and neither was Mathew Barzal.

Andrew Gross

@AGrossNewsday

#Isles at practice (No Maccelli or Ritchie - LBI and no Barzal (knee) Holmstrom-Horvat-Palmieri Heineman-Schenn-Eklund Palat-Pageau-Duclair MacLean-Cizikas-Chaffee Stanley-Schaefer Pelech-Pulock Kessel-DeAngelo Extra: Mayfield Sorokin Varlamov

Barzal is the reason this stings even more. He aggravated a knee injury right before the regular season, got shut down for 2 weeks, and has only been skating on his own since. The obvious move with 2 forwards hurt would be to push your best one back. DeBoer said they won't.

Andrew Gross

@AGrossNewsday

DeBoer says no update on Mathew Barzal being able to rejoin teammates for practice. Says process can’t and won’t be rushed with Maccelli/Ritchie hurt.

Good. Rushing Barzal back from a knee to cover a 2-week gap is how one injury turns into a lost season. Monday afternoon the club gave the actual timelines, and they're about what the Saturday night replays suggested.

Ethan Sears

@ethan_sears

Cal Ritchie out 4-6 weeks, Matias Maccelli out 2-4 weeks, Islanders announce

So the Islanders figure to get Maccelli back first, sometime in early-to-mid November, with Ritchie closer to Thanksgiving. Until then it's Holmstrom-Horvat on top, Schenn and Eklund carrying the 2nd line, and Ondrej Palat getting the bigger role DeBoer has been hinting at. The win in Toronto proved they can survive one night shorthanded. Now they need a month of it, and the thing to watch is whether Barzal's skating turns into a real practice before Maccelli is back.