Antoine Roussel's career season likely ended by hand injury (Video)

A season to forget for the Dallas Stars continued Thursday night with a 5-4 loss to the New York Islanders and an injury to Antoine Roussel.

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Late in the first period, Roussel blocked a Johnny Boychuk blast with his hand and left the game.

Stars head coach Lindy Ruff noted the injury was likely season-ending and on Friday GM Jim Nill confirmed that the forward would be lost for 6-8 weeks.

It’s a shame this is how Roussel’s season ends. He was on pace to have the best offensive year of his career. Through 60 games he had 12 goals and 27 points and likely would have surpassed his highs of 14 goals and 29 points. He also made strides in the possession game with a career best 54.4 percent Corsi while getting the most ice time of his career per game (15:31).

Dallas sits eight points out of a playoff spot with 18 games to go. They’ve now lost Roussel, Lauri Korpikoski and Patrick Eaves in the last week, and Patrick Sharp is playing hurt. A final month playoff push seems to be a distant thought.

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy