Islanders Team Report: Yahoo! Sports

Doug Weight had revitalized his career, and with it, his trade value.

But the veteran center—and the Islanders’ second-leading scorer this season—isn’t likely to be moved now at the March 4 trade deadline.

That’s because Weight became the latest Islander to succumb to an unfathomable team-wide injury bug this season. He will miss at least six weeks, and possibly the remainder of the season, after suffering a sprained MCL in his knee Feb. 11 against New Jersey.

“I’m pretty upset about it,” captain and longtime Weight teammate Bill Guerin told reporters Friday. “I feel bad for Dougie. He’s had a really good year for us, and it’s just disappointing for him. I’m disappointed for him. You never want to see guys go down like that. This year has been crazy.”

With an absurd 350 or so man-games lost to injuries this season, is it any surprise the Isles rank in 30th place in the 30-team NHL in points?

“We’ve seen a ton of guys go down with injuries,” Guerin said. “But it’s never a lost season. There are always things you can gain. Some guys can get experience and that’s what we’re doing here.”

Flyers 5, Islanders 1: The Islanders skated stride for stride with the Flyers for about 58 minutes of Saturday’s game at Wachovia Center. Unfortunately for the Isles, they were blown out because of two distinct scoring bursts by the home team at the beginning and near end of the game. The Flyers took a 2-0 lead with goals 44 seconds apart in the opening minutes and then scored three times in 67 seconds midway through the third period—including Simon Gagne’s penalty shot—for their seventh straight home win over the Isles since April 2007.

“There were a couple of swings of momentum, but it was definitely closer than a 5-1 hockey game,” defenseman Chris Campoli said after the Isles fell to 0-4-1 over their last five games entering Monday’s home matinee against Pittsburgh.

Notes, Quotes

• LW Blake Comeau recently has re-established himself as an important component of the Islanders’ rebuilding plan, returning from an AHL banishment to produce on a line with fellow young guns Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey.

“Being sent to Bridgeport put things in perspective,” Comeau, who scored eight goals in 51 games as a rookie last season, told the New York Post. “I really thought I had done what I needed to do to stay up here, so it was hard to start the year down there…It was hard to deal with, and you kind of wonder what’s going to happen to you. I definitely remember it, and I don’t want to go back. I just want to keep pushing forward.”

• LW Jon Sim, a veteran forward who has one year remaining on his contract at $1 million, returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch in the previous seven games, replacing injured center Doug Weight.

“I’ve been ready to play. This is the route we’re going as an organization. I just want get in there,” the 31-year-old Sim said. “The year’s not over. Hopefully I can salvage it.”

Quote To Note: “I just don’t think we were ready to play. We weren’t very sharp at the beginning of the game and it took us a few shifts to get our legs under us. … But one thing our guys haven’t done is lay down and quit.”—Coach Scott Gordon after the Islanders lost their fifth straight game, 5-1 to Philadelphia on Saturday.