The hit came on a solo rush from Cizikas, where he barreled into the goalie at high speed. He was playing the puck when he skated into Stalock, but the NHL thinks he could have gotten out of the way in time.

Stalock left the game after the hit, and his team may have to find another goalie to replace him. Backup goaltender Arvid Soderblom came into the game in relief and turned away 28 of 30 shots en route to a 3-1 loss to the Islanders.

The Blackhawks are now without Petr Mrazek and Stalock, wiping out their planned goalie tandem for the 2022-23 season. They already called up Arvid Soderblom from the Rockford IceHogs to replace Mrazek, and they will need to call up another goalie for the upcoming game against the Los Angeles Kings Thursday night.

They will likely call up 23-year-old netminder Jaxson Stauber from the IceHogs to back up Soderblom until a long-term solution avails itself. Stauber has never played an NHL game and has only three games of professional experience, all played in the last month.

Cizikas is lucky he wasn’t suspended from NHL action after the hit to the head on Stalock. The longtime Islander has had a slow start to the season offensively but makes his impact felt in other areas of his game. He is third on the Islanders in hits this season with 33 and holds a respectable 52% in the faceoff circle.

Through 10 games, he has no goals, two assists and 17 penalty minutes. The 31-year-old center is under contract until the end of the 2026-27 season, earning him $2,500,000 annually.