The Blue Jackets (19-11-1) recalled forward Jordan Schroeder from Cleveland of the American Hockey League on Wednesday, but don't have much time to come up with a response plan prior to their next game.
Columbus hosts the New York Islanders on Thursday at Nationwide Arena (7 p.m. Fox Sports Ohio, Fox Sports Go, 97.1 FM, BlueJackets.com), and Tortorella said he and his assistants will huddle up to determine the best lineup.
In practice, Lukas Sedlak centered the third line, with captain Nick Foligno and Oliver Bjorkstrand at the wing positions. Alex Wennberg skated in Dubinsky's spot, playing between Boone Jenner and Cam Atkinson. Schroeder centered the fourth line.
The top line of Artemi Panarin, rookie center Pierre-Luc Dubois and Josh Anderson remained intact.
"I think the players care for 'Dubi,'" Tortorella said. "He's a great teammate. I think when you start playing the games, it's not 'Let's do this for Dubi.' I don't think it comes into that. It just gives more people opportunities. I'm still not sure what the center-ice position's going to be [Thursday] night, other than [Wennberg] and [Dubois]."
Dubinsky is among the group of veterans who've underperformed offensively thus far, as compared to their usual output from previous seasons. He has 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in 30 games and has toggled between centering the second and third lines.
Tortorella also gave his alternate captain's 'A' to veteran defenseman Jack Johnson, hoping to spark them both.
Defensively, Dubinsky's been a stalwart, especially winning key face-offs in the defensive zone. That's going to be difficult to replace for a team that is ranked 29th in face-off win percentage (47.1 percent).
Dubinsky has taken 593 face-offs, which is 204 more than Foligno - whose 389 is second. Dubsinky has also won 53.96 percent of his draws (320), which leads the team among players who've taken at least 50.
"It's certainly a loss," Tortorella said. "I don't think we need an injury to accent that. We need to get better play, more consistent play, out of a number of people."
The fight with Kassian was the culmination of a contentious third period.
The Oilers led, 5-0, to start the frame and there were more post-whistle scrums as the game went along - proportional to the Blue Jackets' frustration level during their worst defeat, by score, of the season.
Foligno picked up a roughing call, and then fought forward Jujhar Khaira about six minutes into the period - which, after he won the scrap decidedly, gave Blue Jackets fans something to cheer about. Columbus then scored back-to-back goals by Oliver Bjorkstrand and Johnson, cutting Edmonton's lead to 5-2 before the Oilers got them both back late in the period.
Dubinsky lined up to take a face-off against former Blue Jackets forward Mark Letestu with 1:40 left, lost the draw and was quickly challenged by Kassian - who skated over to him after the puck was dropped.
Dubinsky no sooner dropped his gloves before Kassian caught him in the face with a straight left hand, which drew blood and doubled over the Jackets' center. He was attended to by medical staff as soon as he got to the bench.
He was spotted at Nationwide Arena on Wednesday with a swollen left eye and stitches.
"It's one of those things where, how many times in a game do you get into something, and [Kassian] just catches him the right way," Foligno said. "I mean, it was just no reason for anything. I think Kassian was just trying to get under everyone's skin at a point that I didn't really understand, but that's his job, too, for that team. And 'Dubi's' a willing combatant, so I don't think it was anything malicious. It was just unfortunate."
