Defense a major concern for Isles I Greg Logan Its It's not just the Islanders' Islanders last line of defense goaltender Rick DiPietro that is a major concern right now for a team sitting two points out of playoff position with six games left to play The entire defense is hanging by a thread Although no official announcement has been made theres there's a strong possibility Freddy Meyer and Bruno Gervais have played for forthe forthe forthe the last time this season according to a person familiar with the situation It I t was overshadowed by bythe bythe bythe the absence of DiPietro in a 3 2 loss to the Devils Tuesday night because of a headache but Meyer was placed placed-on on the injured list indefinitely with a broken finger Jn in fact the injury requires four to six weeks to heal and the only reason Meyers Meyer's status was listed as indefinite i is because of the possibility he could return if the Islanders somehow managed to reach the second round of the playoffs Meyers Meyer's injury actually was suffered two weeks earlier and he tried to gut it out despite problems holding the stick It finall finally reached the point where he lie simply was unable to be b effective any longer Gervais has missed the past 18 games since ie- ie ie re- re injuring his ankle on Feb 15 He resumed tra traveling eling I with the team two weeks week ago and appeared to b be skating well and getting close to a return His first comeback from the high ankle sprain he originally suffered on Jan 18 lasted only into his fifth game before he was re Although Gervais repeatedly has expressed optimism about returning this season if the medical staff were confident his ankle would hold up h he most certainly would be bein bein e ein in the lineup playing a prominent role But rat rather er than risk another injury that could put Gervais' Gervais career at risk the Islanders are more likely to hold him out the rest of this season Without Meyer Gervais and Radek Martinek who was lost for the season earlier with a fractured leg the Isles are down to the six who played against the Devils