Mark Streit injures shoulder during scrimmage

 Late in the third period of this afternoon's scrimmage was an unsettling sight:

Top defenseman Mark Streit, hunched over in pain, skated off the ice clutching his left shoulder and did not return.

 He will be evaluated today and the Islanders hope to have a prognosis this weekend, or at the latest, Monday.

"We won't find out until later on," coach Scott Gordon said after talking to him post-game. "We should know more about the injury...[by] Sunday, but probably not the final [prognosis] until Monday."

The 32-year old Swiss blue-liner suffered the injury after being hit by Matt Moulson and falling awkwardly into the boards.

"That was pretty flukish," Gordon said. "There' a lot more contact in practice than what happened on that play. That was more of a fluke. I think [Streit] couldn't get out of his own way more than anything else. He just got himself jammed up against the boards."

Considering Streit's vital role to the team--he was one of last year's alternate captains and the backbone of the team's defense-- the Islanders hope he will not miss significant time.

"Obviously, he's an important guy for us," Gordon said. "Any team that lost one of their top defensemen would have a huge hole in their lineup."