Islanders captain Doug Weight, in his first game back after a bout with swine flu, earned an assist on Kyle Okposo's tiebreaking, power-play goal in the second period that lifted New York to a 3-1 victory last night against the visiting New York Rangers.

Weight, who missed three games because of the illness, sent a cross-ice pass to Jack Hillen in the Rangers' zone. The defenseman fired a drive that bounced off goalie Henrik Lundqvist and past Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi onto the stick of Okposo, who slammed the puck into the open right side with 1:46 left.

It was the Islanders' first regulation win.

The Rangers (8-4-1) are 1-3-1 after a seven-game winning streak.

Weight, 38, kept his shifts short in his return to the ice for the first time since being diagnosed with the H1N1 flu strain eight days earlier. Weight is the fourth NHL player known to have contracted swine flu. Washington forward Quintin Laing, Edmonton defenseman Ladislav Smid, and Colorado goalie Peter Budaj also have the illness, their teams said this week.

• Sabres 4, Devils 1: Clarke MacArthur and rookie Tim Kennedy scored early in the first period and Buffalo remained unbeaten on the road. Ryan Miller made 31 saves, and Paul Gaustad and Jason Pominville iced the game with third-period goals. The Sabres are 4-0 on the road, joining the Penguins and Devils as the only teams without a road loss.

n Coyotes 4, Blue Jackets 1: Martin Hanzal, Zbynek Michalek and Robert Lang scored power-play goals and Jason LaBarbera stopped 31 shots for visiting Phoenix.

n Blues 5, Hurricanes 2: David Perron had two goals, and Yan Stastny and Jay McClement scored 16 seconds apart to help visiting St. Louis Blues beat Carolina.

n Senators 4, Panthers 3: Nick Foligno and Jarkko Ruutu scored second-period goals to help visiting Ottawa beat Florida, which has lost four in a row.

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