Islanders captain Anders Lee out indefinitely with injury

New York Islanders captain Anders Lee is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury, the team announced Friday.

“There will be no further update provided at this time,” the Islanders tweeted.

The 30-year-old forward left Thursday night’s 5-3 win against the New Jersey Devils in the first period following an awkward collision with Devils center Pavel Zacha.

Lee was in obvious pain and did not appear to put any weight on his right leg as teammates helped him off the ice.

“Anders is our captain. He’s our leader. He does everything right,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. “He’s such a good pro and such a good person. He’s got the total respect of our whole team and the bench all the time. (There are) very few times Anders Lee struggles to get up from any kind of hit or anything. He’s a tough, tough man and everybody on our bench felt for him there.”

Lee was appearing in his 295th consecutive game, the third-longest streak in franchise history behind Billy Harris (576 games) and Bobby Nystrom (301).

He leads the first-place Islanders with 12 goals and is second behind Mathew Barzal with 19 points.

“He’s the heartbeat of our team,” forward Josh Bailey said. “He’s not a guy to lay on the ice so we knew something was going on and we’re just hoping for the best news possible.”

Lee has 320 points (184 goals, 136 assists) in 520 games since making his Islanders debut on April 2, 2013. He was a sixth-round draft pick in 2009.

–Field Level Media