Islanders 3 – Capitals 0
Now if Rick DiPietro can stay aflame like this through the playoffs, the Islanders will have an awesome chance of winning their first series since 1993. Because with the young goaltender pitching shutouts, it’s making life a lot easier for everyone else on the team, much in the same way J.S. Giguere was named the playoff MVP for getting Anaheim to the Stanley Cup Finals last spring.
“The playoffs are a whole different animal,” DiPietro said after making his 10th straight start between the pipes. “It’s all about how you see the puck. Hopefully, I won’t have to be the next Giguere. I think at this point we’re playing well enough now where we can be a pretty dangerous team coming in.”
Last night, in a 3-0 win over Washington at the Coliseum, DiPietro extended his shutout streak to 136:58 and became the first Islander goalie since Tommy Salo to record back-to-back shutouts. Salo blanked Tampa Bay and St. Louis early in the 1998-99 season, an accomplishment matched by the 22-year-old DiPietro after he blanked the Capitals last night and the Lightning on Sunday.
Despite defensive coverage Steve Stirling thought could have been sharper, DiPietro saw only 17 shots for his fifth career zippo. His dad, who calls himself a “bad-luck charm,” was sitting in the seats.
“This is the right time of the year to get going,” DiPietro said, “and I think our big guys, our big dogs, are doing the same, starting to get the engines revved up.”
One of those big dogs is Alexei Yashin, who notched a goal and an assist last night as the Isles inflated their lead to eight points over No. 9 Buffalo for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. The two points also lowered their magic number to seven points to clinch their third straight playoff appearance.
Yashin’s goal rattled through a Mattias Weinhandl screen for his first in eight games since returning from a right arm injury. Ironically, his last goal came against the Caps, on Dec. 21 at Washington.
That night was not as fond of a memory for DiPietro, who hit rock bottom this season in that game, in which he allowed three goals on 12 shots and was pulled from the cage after taking a weak penalty and allowing the subsequent power-play goal.
“It was a little bit of redemption,” DiPietro said last night.
Roman Hamrlik opened the scoring on an assist from Yashin when he put the puck in the net from a hard angle (“I’m surprised I hit the net,” he said). Adrian Aucoin, the reigning NHL Defensive Player of the Week, picked off an errant Capital clearing attempt at the blue line and put a rocket past Olaf Kolzig from the right point at 13:34 of the second period for a 2-0 lead.
Yashin’s goal came 1:17 later when No. 79 dangled the puck down to the right circle and let one rip through traffic.
“It’s most important that we got the win,” Yashin said.
* Shawn Bates (groin) sat out his seventh in a row . . . Alexander Karpovtsev (contusion) missed his fourth straight . . . Playoff tickets go on sale Saturday morning.