First-Place Islanders Suffer Big Blow, Lose Kyle Okposo For 6-8 Weeks

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A season that has seen basically everything go right for the New York Islanders has just taken a detour.

The team announced on Monday that top line forward Kyle Okposo will be out up to two months with an upper body injury.

Okposo did play more than 19 minutes in the 7-4 victory over Philadelphia at Nassau Coliseum on Jan. 19, the last day the Isles played before the All-Star break. When Okposo actually suffered the injury is not known.

The Islanders have been the surprise story of the NHL this season. At 31-14-1, they went into the break atop the Metropolitan Division and one point behind Tampa Bay for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

Okposo was on pace to shatter his career-best point total of 69, set last season. The rugged winger had 44 points, including a team-high 30 assists, in the Islanders' first 46 games, and was coming off a four-goal game against Pittsburgh on Jan. 16.

The No. 7 overall pick in the 2006 draft, Okposo has 113 goals and 185 assists in 436 games since breaking into the NHL with the Islanders during the 2007-08 season.

Part of the reason for the Islanders' success this season has been their depth up front. And while it's tough to lose a player of Okposo's caliber for any length of time, New York does appear to have the reinforcements necessary to offset this loss, at least over the short term.

Veteran Mikhail Grabovski, who was signed during the offseason along with Nikolay Kulemin to provide depth up front, practiced on the top line with John Tavares and Josh Bailey on Monday.

Grabovski, who himself has struggled with injuries this season, has six goals and 14 points in 38 games this season. If Grabovski doesn't get the job done the Isles could choose to move youngsters Brock Nelson or Ryan Strome to the top line or could try to make a move prior to the March 2 trade deadline.

The Islanders are scheduled to play the Rangers on Tuesday in both clubs' first game following the break, but the game could be postponed due to the blizzard that was expected to hit the Tri-State Area starting late Monday night and last into Tuesday.