The New York Islanders will dress seven defensemen on Saturday for their matchup against the Buffalo Sabres, as JG Pageau (day to day, lower body) and Pierre Engvall are ruled out.
Pageau will miss his second straight game, as he also missed Friday's contest against the Capitals with a lower-body injury. The forward has 10 points (5G, 5A) through 23 games this season.
Engvall will be a healthy scratch, as Head Coach Patrick Roy expressed that he wasn't pleased with the winger's performance in the past few games, wanting to see him to crash the net the way he did when he recorded a three-game goal streak from Nov. 14-19.
"When he plays his best, he goes to the net like he did before," Roy said of Engvall. "When he plays on the outside, I'm not as crazy about him. Hopefully this will send the message. There's a player we want, and that's a guy who's around the net. He brings so much speed and so much skill, there's no reason for him to not be able to do that."
Roy said that Scott Mayfield, who took a Jakob Chychrun shot to the face and exited the contest with eight minutes left in regulation on Friday, is okay but wants to pad his lineup with an extra d-man. Mayfield has five points (1G, 4A) through 24 games this season, along with 46 hits and 46 blocks.
