BOSTON — Barring any last-minute setbacks, Noah Dobson looks ready to come off long-term injured reserve and into the Islanders lineup on Thursday night against the Bruins.
Coach Patrick Roy confirmed as much following Wednesday’s practice in New York, adding that Scott Perunovich would come out of the lineup if Dobson does indeed reenter, following a disastrous minus-4 performance against the Rangers on Tuesday night.
Dobson skated Wednesday on a pair with Adam Pelech, while Ryan Pulock went with Adam Boqvist. The top pair of Alexander Romanov and Tony DeAngelo remained unchanged.
“He’s been working really hard in practice, so I’m not nervous,” Roy said of Dobson. “What I want to see is just controlling the puck, jumping in the rush, defending well. Do the things that he’s been doing very well since he’s been here.”
Aside from a minor knock at the tail end of last season from which he recovered in time for the playoffs, Dobson has not been injured often in recent years.
This issue, suspected to be a right leg injury, came on Martin Luther King Jr. Day against the Blue Jackets, with Dobson in the midst of a tough season in which his point production has slowed dramatically.
With the Islanders hanging on for dear life in the playoff race, Dobson’s return is coming just in time for a game they absolutely need to win against Boston, but likely too late to make a real impact on the club’s playoff chances with the Islanders seven points out of a spot.
Hudson Fasching is also likely to reenter the lineup Thursday, as Pierre Engvall looked like the healthy scratch in Wednesday’s practice after the fourth line had a mess of a night in the 5-1 loss to the Rangers.
If so, it would be Fasching’s first game in nearly two months after he got hurt in an overtime win in Boston on Jan. 5.
“We want energy. That’s what we’re looking for,” Roy said. “That line, [with Kyle] MacLean and [Marc] Gatcomb, he needs to go out there, finish his checks, show some physicality. That’s what we want. That’s it.”
That Jan. 5 win over the Bruins started an 11-3-0 stretch for the Islanders which stands as their best run of the season.
