Travis Hamonic Injury: Scott Hartnell check forces Islanders defenseman to leave game

The New York Islanders experienced a bit of late-season deja vu Thursday night: Travis Hamonic left the game with a leg injury.

Officially the team called it a "lower body injury," in the parlance of our times, but he crumpled to the ice and then struggled to finish a defensive zone shift after a knee-to-knee collision with Columbus Blue Jackets forward Scott Hartnell. It wasn't a dirty or "kneeing" kind of check by Hartnell; rather, just one of those simple upper body checks where their knees collide, or possibly Hartnell's knee with Hamonic's lower quad muscle, the wrong way:

Hamonic injury pic.twitter.com/OGy9Rgsnhe

— connor (@ConIsles) March 31, 2016

Hamonic had trouble getting up, but did so and struggled around the zone while favoring his right knee. But he did skate off under his own power, after which the Isles announced he wouldn't return to the game.

Which is all a bit haunting, because Hamonic logs the most ice time on the Islanders this season -- and his absence during last spring's playoffs was sorely felt after he suffered a knee injury against the Penguins in the final week of the regular season.

Hopefully this one isn't as serious and turns out better. This time of year there is unlikely to be much more of an update -- other than a very general timetable, if we're lucky -- until he is ready to return.

The Isles have a little over two weeks before the playoffs begin.