Midway through the third period, Islanders' star Bo Horvat collided with the Mammoth's Sean Durzi. Horvat was slow to get up. And even though he was able to skate off the ice on his own, it was evident the Islanders' leading scorer was in considerable discomfort and could not put weight on his left leg. The knee-jerk reaction was that Thursday's injury is related to the groin issue that sidelined him earlier this season.
The timing could hardly have been worse. With the game already decided and the Islanders searching for answers after a lopsided defeat, the sight of their leading scorer limping to the locker room cast a shadow over everything else. Horvat had only recently returned from a five-game absence in December due to a lower-body injury, raising immediate concern about whether this was a recurrence or something new entirely.
