Knee surgery to shelve Isles’ Lee for season

Islanders captain Anders Lee is out for the rest of the season with a right knee injury that requires surgery.

General manager Lou Lamoriello said Wednesday that Lee is set for surgery later this week to repair a torn ACL. Lee tore the ligament when he got tangled up with the Devils’ Pavel Zacha last Thursday.

“You never replace the player that you lost,” Lamoriello said. “He’s our captain. He’s our leader on and off the ice and he’s the voice of the players with the coaches and management, so that’s a little different. But we have tremendous confidence in the players in this locker room, tremendous confidence in the leadership, so they will certainly take up that.”

The team put him on long-term injured reserve and now can use his $7 million in salary-cap space to add players before the April 12 trade deadline. Lee led the Isles with 12 goals when he was injured.

SABRES COACH FIRED

Firing Sabres coach Ralph Krueger on Wednesday represents just the beginning of what could become Kevyn Adams’ major overhaul of an overpriced, underperforming team in the midst of a 12-game skid.

In laying only part of the blame on Krueger, the first-year general manager openly challenged his players’ accountability and pride, while suggesting changes to the roster are looming.

“We’re open to anything and everything,” Adams said, when asked whether he’d consider moving forward Taylor Hall, who is completing a one-year, $8 million contract. Adams said he’s been in discussions with numerous teams leading up to the NHL’s trade deadline on April 12.

ROCKETS DROP 18TH STRAIGHT

Draymond Green scored 16 points, to go along with 12 rebounds and 10 assists, and the Warriors handed the Rockets their franchise-record 18th straight loss, 108-94.

It was the third triple-double this season for Green and the 27th of his career.

Reserve Jordan Poole scored 23 points and hit a career-high six 3-pointers to help the Warriors bounce back from a blowout loss to the Lakers on Monday.

UCONN ASSISTANT OUT

UConn assistant coach Shea Ralph has decided to leave the women’s basketball team in San Antonio and head home after a family member tested positive for COVID-19.

The school said Wednesday that Ralph has tested negative for the virus every day since March 9, but left the team and the NCAA Tournament bubble out of an abundance of caution.

The move comes two days after head coach Geno Auriemma announced he had tested positive for the coronavirus and would be self-isolating in Connecticut until at least March 24.

MARATHON INSPIRATION HOYT DIES

Dick Hoyt, who inspired thousands of runners, fathers and disabled athletes by pushing his son, Rick ,in a wheelchair in dozens of Boston Marathons and hundreds of other races, has died, a member of the family said Wednesday. He was 80.

Hoyt died quietly in his sleep at his Holland, Massachusetts, home on Wednesday morning, Russ Hoyt, another of his sons, told The Associated Press.

“He had an ongoing heart condition that he had been struggling with for years and it just got the better of him,” Russ Hoyt said.