The Islanders held on for a 3-2 win over the Stars in Dallas on Tuesday night, improving their record on this hellish road trip to 5-1-0, but the first thing on the team's mind was for Alexander Romanov.
With time running out in the third period, Stars forward Mikko Rantanen hit Romanov from behind, leading to the Islanders defenseman sliding face-first into the boards behind New York's goal. Romanov was a heap on the ice as officials stopped play with just 27.3 seconds remaining and waved to the benches to get medical personnel to tend to him.
Rantanen was assessed a five-minute major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct for the hit.
Mikko Rantanen was assessed a 5 minute major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct for this hit on Alexander Romanov. pic.twitter.com/nWnQwelfOQ
— Islanders Videos (@SNY_Islanders) November 19, 2025
"I hope he's going to be ok. At this moment, I don't know exactly what it is," Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said after the game. "But all I'm going to say is, when you see the numbers, you have to lay off. Everybody knows that. I mean, you don't go through the guy. I'm proud of the way that our guys handled it afterwards. No one was happy to see someone get hurt like this. And like I said, to me, it's disrespectful for our guy."
Roy, who was the Avalanche head coach when the team drafted Rantanen 10th overall in the 2015 NHL Draft, said he knew it wasn't intentional, but that doesn't excuse the hit.
"I was in Colorado when [Rantanen] was drafted there, and it's not his style," he said. "But at the same time, that should not be part of our game."
Newsday's Andrew Gross reported from Dallas that Romanov was still in the arena at the time the game ended and did not have to be transported to another facility for examination, and that the mood with the Islanders is equal parts concern and anger.
"I hope he's doing good," said Calum Ritchie, who scored his first goal as an Islander on Tuesday. "That's a tough play there at the end and thankfully, we ended up getting the win for him."
"Hopefully he's alright," Ryan Pulock said. "Wasn't pretty from the bench."
"A lot happens. We're not happy to see one of our best defenseman. Hopefully, he's fine. It's dangerous," Jean-Gabriel Pageau said of the play. "We all saw it from the ice, I'm sure you guys have a different view and the replays and stuff, so you guys make your own statement on it. And for us, it's one of our friends, one of our teammates. Never fun to see that."
Pageau was asked if the play overshadowed their win on Tuesday, and the veteran center said that their thoughts are with their teammate.
"Put yourself in my shoes, one of your friends gets hurt on the ice, it's way more important than hockey to me," he said. "Obviously, we get two points... we're happy about that, but our first concern was Romy and the rest took care of itself."