That the Penguins managed to take two points from a game in which they lost two key players to injury didn't seem nearly as significant as the news afterward that they could have those players back soon.
A strained hamstring forced defenseman Dick Tarnstrom to miss most of a 3-2 overtime victory against the New York Islanders last night at Mellon Arena, but he doesn't believe it to be serious. And the back spasms which kept left winger Jan Hrdina out of half the game are not expected to keep him out of the next one Tuesday on Long Island.
Tarnstrom, who ranks seventh among NHL defensemen with 27 points despite missing 16 games, had returned earlier in the week from a month's absence for a broken foot.
"This could have been worse," he said. "I really don't think it's that bad."
Doctors are scheduled to perform tests on the hamstring today. A similar injury kept left winger Martin Straka out of six games in late November and early December, but Tarnstrom expressed optimism that his strain is not as severe.
"I hope it's not," he said. "We'll see what they say."
Tarnstrom was hurt on a hard check deep in the Penguins' zone by Islanders left winger Brad Isbister at 2:45 of the second period. He returned to the ice briefly to participate on a power play a minute later and stayed for more than a minute, but he went to the locker room immediately afterward and did not return.
"It wasn't a bad hit," he said. "It's just how it happened."
It was Tarnstrom's first home game in more than a month, as he had returned from his foot injury Tuesday in Columbus. He looked rusty in that outing, recording no points and a minus-2 rating in a 5-2 loss. But he rapidly returned to the form that has made him one of the Penguins' most valuable players by recording a superb goal, an assist and a plus-2 rating in a 4-1 victory Friday in Atlanta.
Team officials had been cautious about rushing him back into the lineup after the broken foot, but Tarnstrom insisted the new injury was not related to conditioning.
"No, I was OK," he said. "Things like this happen. It's unfortunate that it had to happen now."
Unfortunate for the Penguins, too.
They are 13-5-3-3 when Tarnstrom plays, 4-10-0-2 when he doesn't. And for much of the evening last night, the meat of that statistic was plainly evident to the crowd of 14,331. While Tarnstrom was playing, the Penguins had a 2-0 lead on the Islanders thanks to goals by center Mario Lemieux and right winger Michal Sivek. But when he went out, New York gradually took over the game and went on to score twice to force overtime.
"I'm glad we won," Tarnstrom said. "That's what's important."
No more important to the Penguins than getting him back on the ice soon.
"Yeah, it's frustrating," he said. "I'm waiting a month, and now this happens. But we'll see how it goes."
Hrdina, one of five Penguins to have played in all 40 games so far, left the ice late in the second period, then for good at 6:45 of the third.
Dejan Kovacevic can be reached at dkovacevic@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1938.
New injuries don't appear serious 
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