Marc Gatcomb was pulled off the ice in Bridgeport on Tuesday morning and informed he was headed to Lengthy Island.

With a bug going across the Islanders dressing room, Jean-Gabriel Pageau had come down sick and the 25-year-old Gatcomb was in line to make his NHL debut.

He used the 90-minute journey from Bridgeport to Lengthy Island to name up his household and as many mates as he may, studying within the automotive that he would certainly be taking part in in opposition to the Senators.

His mother and father and 10 or so mates have been within the stands to observe him take his rookie lap.

“I’m from simply north of Boston, so the journey wasn’t too dangerous for them,” Gatcomb mentioned.

Gatcomb skated on the fourth line within the 2-0 loss to the Senators at UBS Enviornment, seeing restricted minutes as a result of Islanders taking part in from behind over the again half of the sport however acquitted himself properly.

He was credited with 4 hits in 7:27 of ice time.

“I assumed he had a extremely good begin. That line had some power originally,” coach Patrick Roy mentioned. “I assumed he did a extremely, very nice job. He was bodily, he was good for his first recreation.”

Gatcomb, a product of UConn, mentioned he was nervous for a lot of the day, however settled down after his first shift.

“It by no means will get simpler however the guys do such a fantastic job incorporating you once you are available in,” he mentioned. “They make it really feel prefer it’s not your first recreation. They positively assist calm the nerves for positive. As the sport went on, it simply felt extra snug.”

Marcus Hogberg began a second straight recreation in web for the Islanders with Ilya Sorokin nonetheless recovering from the sickness he picked up earlier than the Utah recreation.

Sorokin skated on Tuesday and served because the backup, with Roy saying he was feeling higher, however not one hundred pc.

Hogberg, who gained his first NHL recreation since April 2021 on Saturday, made 23 saves in opposition to his former crew, having performed for the Senators from 2018-21.

Isaiah George returned to the lineup following a three-game absence with a suspected concussion, however the Islanders didn’t roll out their normal six defensemen in opposition to the Senators, as Alexander Romanov continues to be recovering from an upper-body harm that stored him out of Saturday’s win in Utah. Roy referred to as Romanov day-to-day.

Dennis Cholowski remained within the lineup with Romanov out, whereas Grant Hutton — who performed in Utah — was reassigned to Bridgeport upon the crew’s return dwelling.

Requested about Max Domi’s elbow that left him injured within the Islanders’ first recreation of the brand new 12 months, George mentioned he felt it was “simply possibly a bit early” however didn’t go additional in criticizing the hit.