EAST MEADOW, N.Y. — New York Islanders star defenseman Noah Dobson returned to practice with his team on Friday, one day before shipping off to Carolina to face the Hurricanes in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
Dobson had missed the final three regular-season games of the season after suffering an upper-body injury during the first period of their 3-2 victory last week over the Montreal Canadiens.
He had been skating on his own in recent days, but rejoining the team is a further step in the right direction. Dobson skated with his usual defensive partner, Alex Romanov, during Friday’s practice.
It cannot be overstated how important Dobson’s availability is to New York this postseason. The 24-year-old blueliner is the quarterback of a power play that had looked out of sorts without him.
In 79 games, he recorded 10 goals with 60 assists, becoming just the second defenseman in team history (Denis Potvin) to record 60 or more points in a season and the third blueliner in Islander history with 70 or more points (Denis Potvin, Jean Potvin).
