Kyle Palmieri tore the ACL in his left knee and will be out 6-8 months, the New York Islanders announced Saturday.
The 34-year-old forward has been placed on injured reserve and will have surgery after he was injured in the second period of a 4-3 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday. Palmieri was credited with the secondary assist on Emil Heineman's goal at 5:42 before leaving the game.
He has 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in 25 games for New York (13-10-3).
“He's one of the toughest players I've played with,” Islanders captain Anders Lee said of Palmieri. “It takes a lot for him to be forced to stay on the ice a little bit longer and be keeled over. It was a gutsy play by him to battle through that pain, and he didn't just take the puck. He got it and had some poise with it, too. Very impressed with ‘Palms’ and no surprise, after playing with him this long, to see his toughness shine.”
With Palmieri out, Lee moved up to the second line at practice Saturday with Jonathan Drouin and Mathew Barzal. Maxim Shabanov skated on the top line with Heineman and Bo Horvat.
A first-round pick (No. 26) by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2009 NHL Draft, Palmieri has 545 points (276 goals, 269 assists) in 925 regular-season games with the Ducks, New Jersey Devils and Islanders, and 32 points (18 goals, 14 assists) in 68 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
New York recalled forward Marc Gatcomb from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League before its game Sunday, a 4-1 loss to the Washington Capitals at UBS Arena.
“It’s definitely tough when you lose guys like that, but it’s a next-man-up mentality,” forward Casey Cizikas said. “We have a job to do and we have to work as a group to get it done.”
NHL.com independent correspondent Stefen Rosner contributed to this report
