NHL

ISLES DEAL WILD CHILD SIMON, FALL TO PENS

Chris Simon is gone, but it’s not as if he had been the only anchor dangling around the Islanders’ necks.

The trade deadline passed yesterday without general manager Garth Snow addressing the Isles’ obvious need for scoring punch, a fact that was underscored by last night’s 4-2 loss to the Penguins at the Coliseum.

Despite outshooting Pittsburgh 52-21, the Islanders fell into a two-goal deficit in the first period and never recovered, losing their second straight and making their previous six-game winning streak seem like a mirage.

Simon is no longer the Islanders’ problem, after Snow dealt the 36-year-old bad boy to Minnesota for a sixth-round draft choice, highlighting a busy few hours for the GM before the 3 p.m. deadline.

The Islanders also shipped Marc-Andre Bergeron to Anaheim, obtaining a third-round draft choice after acquiring defenseman Rob Davison from San Jose for a seventh-round pick. Davison arrived during the first period last night and saw limited action.

Simon had played just two games for the Islanders since returning from his NHL record 30-game suspension for stomping on Jarkko Ruutu’s foot in December. That followed the 25-game suspension Simon incurred last year – previously the record – for deliberately high sticking the Rangers’ Ryan Hollweg in the face.

Simon’s departure came just hours before he was set to face the Penguins for the first time since the Ruutu incident.

“There’s a lot of guys in this league who do a lot of wrongs,” Islanders coach Ted Nolan said. “But fortunately, it’s a good, fresh start for [Simon] and obviously a fresh start for us.”

Snow cited Jeff Tambellini’s potential as the reason Simon was expendable, but also acknowledged the change of scenery would be beneficial for Simon, who was booed at the Coliseum in his return from his latest suspension. Tambellini contributed to the Isles’ first goal last night, recording an assist on Frans Neilsen’s shot past Ty Conklin in the second period that pulled the Islanders within 2-1, the closest they would get for the remainder.

Snow said the rumors that Miroslav Satin was on the trading block – the right wing would have had to waive his no-trade clause – were a fabrication. But that didn’t stop Snow from considering another major splash, of which he refused to divulge specifics.

“There was one big deal that could have happened, but at the end of the day we didn’t want to break up the group,” Snow said. “We’re battling for a playoff spot and we made a couple of [small] changes to the lineup.”

Penguins 4 Islanders 2

mpuma@nypost.com