Islanders' Mathew Barzal is out indefinitely with lower-body injury

Mathew Barzal’s latest absence will be a lengthy one for the already injury-depleted Islanders.

The team announced on Monday that the top-liner is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury. Defenseman Scott Mayfield is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Both exited Saturday night’s 3-2 overtime win over the Lightning and missed Sunday’s 6-3 loss to the Panthers that snapped a seven-game winning streak and concluded a three-game road trip.

The Islanders will face Vegas on Tuesday at UBS Arena looking to bounce back from the defeat and the latest bit of injury news.

“That’s all it is,” Anders Lee said. “Let’s have a great response. We’ve put together some great hockey here. We didn’t get the results [Sunday], but let’s get back to who we are and what we’ve been doing.”

The problem is that it becomes increasingly hard to do so with coach Patrick Roy constantly having to integrate new players into the lineup.

Defensemen Noah Dobson (lower body, long-term injured reserve) and Ryan Pulock (upper body, injured reserve) already were sidelined, and with rookie Isaiah George assigned to the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport, president and general manager Lou Lamoriello had to import Tony DeAngelo via free agency, Scott Perunovich via trade and Adam Boqvist via waivers.

Goalie Semyon Varlamov (lower body, LTIR) has not played since Nov. 29 and is out indefinitely. Replacement backup Marcus Hogberg (upper body, IR) also is out, which forced Jakub Skarek into his NHL debut against the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers on the second night of a back-to-back.

The defensive cracks definitely showed as the Panthers frequently exploited seams to feed the puck toward the crease.

“There’s a reason why they won the Stanley Cup,” Roy said. “I think we learned a lot from that game.”

Defenseman Dennis Cholowski drew into Sunday’s lineup and had two assists, but it will be interesting to see if Lamoriello turns back to George.

Anthony Duclair replaced Barzal on Bo Horvat’s line with Lee. The power play, already last in the NHL, looked even more dysfunctional without Barzal, although Jean-Gabriel Pageau netted a man-advantage goal.

Mayfield left on Saturday favoring his right leg at 15:29 of the second period after Luke Glendening’s check sent him sliding into the end wall. Barzal blocked defenseman Darren Raddysh’s blast at 18:40 of the third period with his left leg and had to be helped to the dressing room.

Barzal, who has six goals and 14 assists in 30 games, missed 21 games with an upper-body injury from Nov. 1-Dec. 12. The Islanders went 9-7-5 during that absence.

The Islanders (24-21-7) are four points behind the Red Wings and Blue Jackets for the Eastern Conference’s two wild-card spots.

Notes & quotes: Goalie Ilya Sorokin was named the NHL’s first star of the week after going 3-0-0 with a 1.33 goals-against average and a .953 save percentage in wins over the Avalanche, Flyers and Lightning. Sorokin, who earned the first first-star honor of his career, will enter Tuesday’s start against Vegas on a personal six-game winning streak.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.