Isles win; Sim Injured; Meyer on Waivers

How is that online petition coming?

After watching the Islanders' victory over the Sabres last night, one thing becomes very, very clear: this is going to be a team that no one wants to play. Up and down the bench, Ted Nolan's boys have what Peter Laviolette calls "jam". They're as aggressive without the puck as they seem to be with the puck. The up-tempo style is fun as heck to watch.

Mike Comrie potted another two goals and Chris Campoli added another with a laser knuckleball (I know, that doesn't sound right but if you saw it you know what I mean) in the first. DiPietro was solid in the cage and made a couple of his patented long passes out of the zone--one of which was tapped by The Tank to the captain who made another pass to Comrie to set up a tasty backhander past Ryan Miller that broke a 1-1 tie early in the third.

Not all the news last night was great. Jon Sim left the game with a knee injury. Sim, an impressively relentless forechecker, bounced around like a pinball out there last night but ended up missing a check and crashing into the boards. He's to be evaluated today but the FSN crew speculated that Nolan may have to dip into the Soundtigers roster for a replacement player to suit up on Monday afternoon due to the expected swelling around Sim's knee. Jeff Tambellini sort of springs to mind, doesn't he?

Also--and we noticed that he was not announced to the crowd before the game so something had to be up, Freddy Meyer was placed on waivers by GM Garth Snow on waivers for the purpose of assigning him to Bridgeport. According to the FSN crew, Meyer has until noon today (Sunday) to clear waivers and report to The Bridge if he's not claimed by another NHL team looking for defensive depth.

Meyer's assignment/departure will put the Islander roster to one below the 23-man maximum, opening the way for Snow to finally sign free-agent defenseman Bryan Berard, who has actually had to pay his own expenses to practice with the Islanders since training camp ended. It's been a poorly kept secret that Ted Nolan has planned to have Berard QB the power play for the Isles.