Doug Weight was drafted by the Rangers and made his NHL debut with the team in 1991. Tonight, he’ll face them as an Islander for the first time, when the Blueshirts visit Nassau Coliseum.
“I thought I’d be there forever,” Weight said of his days as a Blueshirt. “It lasted about a year and a half.”
Nearly two decades later, Weight is on Long Island and right now, he’s trying to figure out a way to help his new team put an end to its current three-game losing streak.
“We’re coming out of it,” Weight said. “You can see the improvement.”
He was speaking largely of the Isles’ 60-shot effort during Saturday’s loss to the Hurricanes, which Weight could have sent into overtime, but he was unable to convert a penalty shot with 0.7 seconds left in the third period.
Of greater concern than that one game, however, is the well-being of Rick DiPietro, who left the game after allowing two first-period goals.
Despite his shaky performance, Islanders coach Scott Gordon said that the move was not based on DiPietro’s performance and that it was injury related.
DiPietro is scheduled to see a doctor about his injured knee today. In the meantime, the Islanders have called up goaltender Yann Danis under emergency conditions.
If DiPietro’s health is a problem, the Isles will likely need more performances like they got on Saturday, when they attempted 60 shots against the Hurricanes. They’ll just need more of them to go in.
“The loss is inexcusable,” Bill Guerin said. “But the effort is better, the play was better.”
The Isles had only an optional practice yesterday before facing the Rangers, who are coming off of consecutive one-goal victories.
Weight hopes to put an end to that.
“It’s been 17 years, but it will still be a little strange to go up against them,” Weight said.