PITTSBURGH — Islanders defenseman Andrew MacDonald met with doctors yesterday and most likely will require surgery on his left hand, keeping him out 6-8 weeks, two sources told The Post.
MacDonald sustained the broken hand in the second period of the Islanders’ 6-4 win in Game 4 on Tuesday, getting hit by a slap shot from Penguins’ defenseman Douglas Murray. The extent of the injury was not fully known after the game, but the team is now not expecting him to be available for the remainder of the postseason, no matter how far the team goes.
“Andrew is a big part of our team,” coach Jack Capuano said before last night’s 4-0 loss to the Penguins at the CONSOL Energy Center, putting his team down 3-2 in its best-of-seven first-round series. “He’s an integral part of our team, but this is an opportunity for some of our other guys to play more minutes and step up.”
MacDonald was replaced in the lineup by veteran Radek Martinek, who had not played a game since April 16 and played in 13 games in the regular season. Also coming in was diminutive blueliner Thomas Hickey, replacing the hulking Matt Carkner.
“I think they did all right,” Capuano said. “For us going into the game, knowing their lineup, dictates a little bit how you go about yours. Lefty-righty, lefty-righty throughout our lineup is one thing we thought about.
“But our defensemen played hard tonight. They chipped a lot of pucks, they played physical, they were strong on pucks tonight. I thought our ‘D’ did a good job in handling a lot of their pressure.”
* Midway through the third period, second-line center Frans Nielsen left the Islanders bench with what was described as a “lower-body injury” and did not return.
The team said he is day-to-day, and there was no update on his availability for tomorrow’s Game 6 at the Coliseum.
* Capuano also made a roster adjustment up front, inserting Jesse Joensuu for David Ullstrom. In his postseason debut, Joensuu played 8:26 while mostly on a line with Casey Cizikas and Matt Martin.
* The reason Game 6 was scheduled for 7 p.m. was because the Senators finished off the Canadiens in their series with a 6-1 win last night. If that series had continued with a Game 6 on Saturday, it would have been featured for “Hockey Night in Canada” on broadcast station CBC.
If that was the case, then the Islanders-Penguins would have been at a 4:30 p.m. start.
* The Penguins made some roster switches of their own, scratching former Islanders’ defenseman Mark Eaton for Simon Despres.
Joe Vitale and Tyler Kennedy also came in up front, while Jussi Jokinen and Tanner Glass both sat for the first time this series, as well.