New York 2, Rangers 1: DiPietro wins #100

New York Islander Fan Central | 11/20/2007 12:13:00 AM | |

















Islanders Website: Has the recap of the Islanders 2-1 win Monday at Msg which was Rick DiPietro's one hundredth career win.

"You know coming into these games they're going to be battles," said DiPietro. "Our guys did the dirty work and sacrificed to win. We got the pucks out, blocked shots and cleared rebounds. The penalty kill also worked hard."

"We just seem to get the bounces," said head coach Ted Nolan in response to why the Islanders have the Rangers' number the past two seasons. "We got some clutch scoring from Ruslan and Jo, who has been playing very well recently. And Ricky was Ricky. You need your best players to step up and he's done it all season."


NYI Fan Central Comments:
Full marks to the Islanders for an outstanding effort from top to bottom. The Rangers wanted to win this game as much as the Islanders despite their spin doctors trying to claim anything else.

Nolan put out a game plan the Rangers could not match and as usual Tom Renney was out coached in his own building. Islanders made Lundqvist and their defense go behind their own net and worked them all night in the corners, the outstanding team defensive play did the rest and kept most of the pressure off DiPietro.

Both teams played tough hockey but clearly the Islanders played the smarter hockey and kept finding the open man.

Fedotenko's goal off a set play was an outstanding setup by Mike Comrie as Hossa fell asleep. Vasicek was dominating and besides his fantastic shot for the 2-0 goal was making big plays all over the ice, his kick pass to Satan was a great setup.

Witt, Berard leveled Avery and Drury. Martinek was dominating with and without the puck. Sutton took a few penalties and had one bad stretch but otherwise again was solid. Gervais and Campoli looked fantastic and again played a very smart defensive game with Campoli knowing when to pinch or throw a big hit.

Jagr looked like someone who again wanted no part of Brendan Witt.

The line on the telecast said it best about Avery, all his mail should be delivered to the penalty box. DiPietro should not have hit him but aside from that he was not a factor outside of the sideshow. DiPietro's stick handling had the Rangers chasing the puck all night while Lundqvist looked like a mistake waiting to happen who almost handed the Islanders a goal just before they scored the 2-0 goal.

Islanders should have had another two or three goals. Satan over handled one, Hunter missed from in close and Berard hit the Post. Sillinger line just wore down the Rangers and even if Hilbert cannot score he works very hard. Only downside which is no small story is another shorthanded goal allowed and not much pp pressure.

This Islander team is just faster than other years and do skate as a unit and they are in the box far less. The offense is a concern but you see Bergenheim's energy followed by Fedntenko and then the fourth line starts skating well and they just look like a very tough team to beat and it becomes contagious with someone like Hunter who is a bull in the corners. They don't finish a lot but they have not been outworked often and it's an Islander team defense that seems to be improving with every game.

If Guerin, Comrie, Sillinger and some of the players due to score breakout and produce with this level of defense they are going to be a very good hockey team all season. Guerin brings a lot of smart play but offensively for someone with almost forty goals last season he's been a disappointment.

On the statistical front cannot remember the last time an Islander scored in the first ten seconds of a period unless were talking about Bryan Trottier scoring five seconds into a game against Boston long ago.