Archive for the 'Rick DiPietro' Category
DP is back after dealing with the passing of a family member, but according to Newsday’s Greg Logan he’ll be riding the pine tonight as Coach Nolan rolls the dice with Wade Dubielewicz versus the Rangers.
Islanders coach Ted Nolan made the boldest decision of his two-season tenure this morning when he announced backup Wade Dubielewicz will be in net against the Rangers tonight at Nassau Coliseum with franchise player Rick DiPietro fresh and ready to go on the bench.
Now that’s more like it. As has been the case many times over the years, the Islanders rose to the challenge and beat the Rangers on the road last night, ending the Rangers’ four-game winning streak and possibly putting an end to their own slump.
Jeff Tambellini, the young forward who has bounced between Bridgeport and Long Island the last two seasons, sealed the victory for the Islanders when he beat Henrik Lundqvist in a shoot-out. The Isles also got goas from Bergenheim, Hunter, and Comeau.
Wade Doobie was one of the big stories of the game, stepping in for an absent Rick DiPietro and beating the Rangers for the second time in two career starts. He shut out the Rangers in the last week of the season when DP was hurt last year. Doobie may be in net again tomorrow night when the Isles face the Rangers at the Coliseum as DP may still me on leave to be with his family.
The win, coupled with a Flyers loss, moves the Isles within three points of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 14 games to go.
Six in a row! Wow. These guys continue to baffle me. Just when you think they might be on their way out, they go on their longest winning streak since December 2003. They may lack firepower and play ugly every now and then but this team has always been resilient under Coach Ted Nolan.
DP notched his third shutout of the season and his second against the Lightning. Miro Satan scored the lone goal. The Isles are now ninth in the East, one point behind Boston, Buffalo, and the Rangers and one point ahead of the Flyers. Twenty games to go. Buckle up.
Woah! Two in a row! 4 powerplay goals? Who are these guys? Special teams were the difference last night as the Isles PP was 4 for 7 last night while the PK killed 4 of 5 penalties.
“We saw the improbable last year when we were left for dead,” goalie Rick DiPietro said after the Islanders slipped past the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Thursday night. “There’s still a lot of hockey left.”
“There’s still belief in this room,” Comrie said. “Ted (Nolan) and the coaching staff have us focused on the game at hand. We’re not looking too far ahead.”
Ex-Isle Jason Blake had an assist on Toronto’s last minute goal. After 59 games, Blake’s stats are 11G 25A 36PTS, just a little off his 40G 69PTS performance last year which led to his big Toronto contract. Gotta get back to work now…
Interesting stats over at PuckThatHit.com where they’ve divided up all the goalie’s salaries by the number of saves they’ve made this season. DP comes in #16 at about $2500 a save, a little bit cheaper than Lundqvist ($2600), Brodeur ($2900), and a whole bunch cheaper than ex-Islander Roberto Luongo ($3700).
With only 27 games played and $6 million in salary, Jose Theodore is robbing the Avalanche blind at $6000 a save. With 18 wins and a .930 save percentage, Boston Bruins All-Star Tim Thomas is an absolute steal at a $1 million salary and $600 per save.
Top 3 Goalies
$520 Jason LaBarbera (Kings)
$594 Timothy Jr. Thomas (Bruins)
$635 Dan Ellis (Predators)
Bottom 3 Goalies
$4365 Marty Turco (Stars)
$4876 Nikolai Khabibulin (Hawks)
$6000 Jose Theodore (Avalanche)
Call up your cable operator and tell them “I Want My DP TV!!”. The Isles’ netminder was a big part of the All-Star Game festivities this past weekend. Sorry for the delay in getting all these up…I was out of town again this weekend and didn’t get to watch the festivities until last night.
First off with Marty Brouder taking the weekend off, DP was named the starting goalie for the Eastern All-Stars.
During Saturday’s skills competition, DP started off the evening with a pair of goals (2 goals/4 shots) during the revised Obstacle Course event.
Next, DP robs Marion Gaborik of the Minnesota Wild during the Shootout event with a sweet toe save.
The Versus Network had DP mic’ed up all weekend, which led to this humorous exchange before Ilya Kovalchuk’s attempt in the Breakaway Challenge event.
Kovalchuk should light the puck on fire or light himself on fire, and then do a back flip on the ice.
With comments like that, Ricky might just have a career in hockey broadcasting in his future after he’s done with the Isles. However, Versus’ plan later backfired when they left DP’s mic on. DP stops Gaborik again during the Breakaway Challenge but tweaks his hip. As he skates over to the Bruins’ Tim Thomas to ask him to take his place, DP drops the F-Bomb on live TV. Good thing it was only Versus and only like 10 people were watching.
This also led to gasps of horror across Long Island at the thought of DP missing any games because of an injury during the All-Star Game. Isles’ PR head honcho, Chris Botta was swamped with calls, emails, and people at the All-Star game asking about DP’s status for Sunday’s game. DP assured everyone he was OK and ready to go.
With DP still mic’ed up for the All-Star Game, things did not start well. DP is chatting with the Versus play by play announcers as they drop the puck to start the game. Then there’s a lousy clearing pass by Montreal’s Andre Markov that ends up on the stick of the Western Conference’s Rick Nash who breaks in alone on DP and scores just 12 seconds into the game, an All-Star Game record. Ooops.
The good news is that was the only puck to get by DP on Sunday. Ricky made 12 saves in the period and his All-Star teammates scored 5 unanswered goals for a 5-1 lead after the first period of play. The East went on to win 8-7 on a Marc Savard goal with just 21 seconds left. Just a fantastic job by DP all weekend.
Finally, two more videos for you from Islanders TV, first here’s Ricky saying goodbye to Atlanta and headed back home. And finally, I’m not sure if this was part of the All-Star Weekend or not, but it was pretty interesting - McFarlane toys is going to add DiPietro to their NHL Action Figure line, here’s video of DP having his face scanned in for the modelers.
Be sure to check the Islanders Army recommended links to the right, I’ve added a lot of the Islanders Blogosphere’s coverage of the festivities. Especially Botta’s NYI Point Blank blog, where he has short Q&A interviews with some big hockey names like Stan Fischler, Adam Proteau of The Hockey News, Ray “Chicken Parm” Ferraro, and Greg Logan of Newsday.
Psst…whatcha doin’ next Sunday? Are you in Atlanta? Can you skate? Can you play goal?
What’s an All-Star Game without any All-Stars? We might just find out this weekend. Crosby’s out with an injury, starting Western goalie Roberto Luongo already decided to skip the game, and now starting Eastern goalie Martin Brodeur has decided to do the same…using the same lame “family” excuse that Luongo did.
Eastern Conference starting goalie Martin Brodeur on Tuesday pulled out of Sunday’s All-Star Game in Atlanta, citing personal reasons.
Boston’s Tim Thomas was named to replace Brodeur, who played in Tuesday night’s game against the Flyers at the Wachovia Center.
The other Eastern Conference goalies are the Islanders’ Rick DiPietro and Florida’s Tomas Vokoun.
“It’s a tough decision,” Brodeur said. “I’ve got some stuff going on with the family back home, so it’s something I just wanted to make sure I was here to take care of. It’s definitely a tough one. It’s such a great weekend to miss. That’s why I waited so long. I tried to avoid making that decision, but I think it’s for the best.”
Way to be fan-friendly Marty and give the fans what they want. Is your wife pregnant too, like Luongo’s?
DP! DP! DP! Where would be be without him? Probably in the Eastern Conference basement making tee-time reservations for early April. I give Coach Nolan a lot of credit too for the team’s overall performance, but DP is the team’s first-half MVP for sure. Brian Compton over at NHL.com thinks DP deserves some consideration as a Hart Trophy candidate if he can keep up this level of play over the second half of the season.
I’d Vote For Ricky In A Hart-Beat — “The Hart Memorial Trophy is an annual award given to the player judged to be the most valuable to his team.”
What I’m about to say is probably going to cause my Inbox to explode, but the following topic is worth discussing: Is Rick DiPietro a Hart Trophy Candidate?
Remember … it’s the Most “Valuable” Player. Sure, there are better players in the League (heck, there are even better goaltenders). But with Wednesday night’s win, the New York Islanders – who currently do not possess a 40-point player on their roster – are four points behind the Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins for the Atlantic Division lead. For those of you scoring at home, that’s currently the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
DP for Hart, Nolan for Jack Adams…could be a very Orange and Blue NHL Awards show this off-season.
Forty-four games into the season, Isles goalie Rick DiPietro is on pace to set the team single season record for wins.
DP is on track to win 33.5 games this season, which would propel him past the current season best of 32 wins shared by Billy Smith, Chris Osgood and DP. DiPietro, who was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star squad last week, tied the record last season, winning 32 games in 62 starts. Osgood won 32 games in 66 starts in the 2001-2002 season. Smith set the record with an unreal 32 wins in just 46 starts in 1981-1982. Smith’s line was pretty sick that year, as he went 32-9-4 with a 2.97 GAA for a powerhouse Islanders team.
DiPietro is currently 18-14-5 in 39 games with a 2.52 GAA. If he keeps up that pace and stays healthy, he’ll have the Isles record.
By the way, New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur set the NHL single season record for wins with 48 last year. Not too shabby.
Yesterday, the Western All-Stars were revealed for the 2008 All Star Game in Atlanta. Today the Eastern All-Stars were announced, including Islanders goalie/savior Rick DiPietro.
DiPietro becomes the first Islanders goaltender to make the All-Star Game since Billy Smith in 1978.
After elected starter Martin Brodeur goes first for the Eastern Conference on Jan. 27 in Atlanta, Rick will handle either the second or third period. He will also be a big part of the revamped Skills Competition on Saturday.
Last year’s Islander All-Star and now Toronto’s $20 million dollar man, Jason Blake did not make the All-Star roster this year.
