He's the Keeper, Part 2

Night and Day. That's how the Islanders perform with Rick DiPietro in net versus (sorry for the pun) those games when Mike Dunham is between the pipes.

In what can only be called one of the biggest wins of the season, DiPietro kicked out 35 of 36 shots as the Islanders snapped a dreadfully painful four-game losing streak by beating the Penguins 3-1 last night. Not only are the Islanders back on track for the playoff push, but the win gave Ricky a career-high 31 wins on the season. He also stopped Evgeni Malkin on a penalty shot in the second period after Malkin was tripped by Tom Poti.

Trent Hunter (on the power play), Jason Blake, and Viktor Kozlov scored, while Miroslav Satan added a couple of assists.

Islanders fans can breath a collective sigh of relief today. The win gives the Islanders 81 points in 73 games this season; good for tenth place in the eight team playoff chase. The Isles have played two less games than #9 Montreal (82 points) and #6 Tampa (86 points) and have one game in hand on the teams in eighth and seventh, the Hurricanes (82) and Rangers (83).

No good Islander fan needs to be reminded that the Rangers will be in Nassau County on Sunday for an early afternoon rematch with our boys. After playing Philadelphia tomorrow afternoon, the Ranger game is looming as quite the showdown as the NHL regular season winds down.