Saturday night made it exactly four weeks since the Islanders were on the receiving end of a hit they have yet to recover from.
Just more than five minutes into a game against the Hurricanes on Oct. 19, defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky was planted into the Coliseum backboards by Radek Dvorak, concussing Visnovsky and sending him off the ice.
He has remained there since. Though a source said Visnovsky has been at most of the home games and has been around the players, he is yet to resume any type of exercise. It’s unclear what symptoms the 37-year-old is having beyond headaches, but anything more severe likely would have kept him away from the team, which is not the case.
Visnovsky has not traveled, and the team’s official status update on him is “out indefinitely.”
In his 13-game absence after Saturday’s 5-4 home shootout win against the Red Wings, the Islanders had gone 4-7-1 and seen their early-season place near the top of the Metropolitan Division sink to a level of desperation. They were 7-10-3 before getting a glimpse at a talented Detroit team on the second leg of a back-to-back, and were ranked 26th in the league in allowing 3.10 goals per game.
“Lubo has been a big part of team the last couple years,” defenseman Andrew MacDonald told The Post. “He plays a great defensive game, but there’s a great offensive ability there. It’s a big hole to fill, but for us, I think whoever is in the lineup every night is doing what’s asked of them, doing their best to keep pucks out of our net.”
With Visnovsky out, MacDonald has seen his already heavy minutes increase, playing an average 27:01 per game, good for third highest in the league. That has included in Visnovsky’s place on the first power-play unit, which has gone from tops in the league before the injury to 14th, having scored three times in the past 35 attempts.
However, it’s less about MacDonald and his stout partner Travis Hamonic than it is about the young group behind them on the depth chart. Because Brian Strait is also “out indefinitely,” per coach Jack Capuano, with an upper-body injury, the team has had to lean on some young players to carry the load.
That includes two rookies in Matt Donovan and Aaron Ness, as well as hulking pugilist Matt Carkner and diminutive stay-at-home man Thomas Hickey.
“It’s been better,” Capuano said of the play of those four. “For them, back there now, it’s making sure they play with a little bit more poise, and little bit more confidence.”
So whether he likes it or not, without Visnovsky, that is the group the coach has to work with.
“They’re a big part of our team back there,” Capuano said. “We go as they go.”
Thomas Vanek missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury.
“I was hoping for a little more progress over night,” Vanek said. “It’s frustrating because the last four days has kind of been the same. I feel good, but not healthy enough where I can go out and help the team play.”
The Islanders’ next game is Tuesday in Toronto, the start of a three-game road trip. … Forward Colin McDonald was not contacted by the league about supplemental discipline or a fine after he was penalized for his headshot on the Kings’ Trevor Lewis in Thursday’s 3-2 loss. … Evgeni Nabokov got the start in nets after sitting for the past three games in favor of Kevin Poulin.