Streak at 14 losses on the road; Jeff scores his second; Trevor Smith gets his first NHL goal

Islanders Team Report from Yahoo! Sports
Inside Shots

It would be comical, if only it weren’t so ominous for the Islanders.

Rick DiPietro now is experiencing swelling in one of his surgically repaired knees, so the oft-injured goaltender missed his third straight game as the dead-last Isles concluded a terrible 0-4-0 western road trip with a 5-2 loss Thursday night in Calgary.

Without another game until Tuesday at home against the rival Rangers, DiPietro will get the weekend to rest further and will be reevaluated by the team’s medical staff once the Isles return to Long Island.

He has appeared in just five games this season, following summertime hip surgery and operations on each knee, including an arthroscopic procedure Oct. 31 to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. DiPietro also missed a handful of games in recent weeks due to a groin injury.

“From a medical standpoint, he’s cleared to play. With the (knee) surgery that he’s had, he’s expected to have some swelling. That’s been normal,” coach Scott Gordon said of DiPietro, who is in just the third year of a record 15-year contract. “We’ve been very cautious about how he’s going to respond.

DiPietro practiced Wednesday and appeared on target to play one night later against the Flames, but Yann Danis was summoned to fly across the continent from AHL Bridgeport to serve as Joey MacDonald’s backup once DiPietro was deemed unavailable.

“We just feel that it’s in his best interests to give (DiPietro) the night off and make sure that everything is going the way it’s supposed to go. If anything, just err on the side of caution,” Gordon said. “He could have played all (four) games (on the road trip). That’s why he’s been here.

“But it hasn’t made the progress that was to be expected, so, rather than just throw him in there, knowing that he’s medically cleared to play, we just figured we’ll hold off and get him back to New York and reevaluate and go from there.”

Flames 5, Islanders 2: It wasn’t exactly a road trip to ring in 2009 with a bang, as the Islanders continued free-falling towards a crack at the No.1 overall draft pick in June with their four straight loss out west Thursday night in Calgary.

The Isles clawed back from an early 2-0 hole to tie the score, including rookie Trevor Smith’s first NHL goal, but Calgary’s Daymond Langkow scored just 55 seconds later and the Flames beat Joey MacDonald twice more in the third as the Isles fell to 3-16-2 in their past 21 games.

Notes, Quotes

• D Mark Streit gets to go back to Montreal in style, as a first-time All-Star. Streit, who left the Canadiens to ink a five-year, $20.5-million deal as a free agent last summer, was named the Islanders’ lone representative for the Jan. 25 All-Star Game in Montreal.

“It’s ironic that I’m going to go back where I played three years and made my first steps in the NHL,” Streit said. “I have a lot of great memories, it was a great experience playing for the Habs. But going back there and playing at the Bell Centre, it couldn’t get any better than that.”

• D Radek Martinek, who’s been limited to 11 appearances this season due to multiple shoulder problems, returned to the lineup Thursday for the first time since Nov. 29. But Martinek’s return coincided with an injury to another regular defenseman, as D Freddy Meyer sat out the game with a groin injury.

Quote To Note: “We’re at the point where there’s going to be a bigger responsibility on our young guys. There’s a lot of opportunity for these guys and it’s good to see them try to make the most of it.”—Coach Scott Gordon, after the already-out-of-it Islanders opened the second half of the season by completing an 0-4-0 road trip with a 5-2 loss Thursday in Calgary.

Player Notes:

• LW Trevor Smith, appearing in his fifth game since a recall from AHL Bridgeport, notched his first NHL goal in a 5-2 loss Thursday in Calgary.

• LW Jeff Tambellini, who was sent to the minors after not scoring in any of his first 23 games, has two goals in his past seven appearances.

• D Mark Streit, who was named to the All-Star team for the first time in his career earlier in the day, recorded an assist and leads all NHL defensemen in points with 33.

Medical Watch:

• G Rick DiPietro, who has appeared in just two of the Islanders’ last 34 games due to multiple injuries, missed his third straight game Thursday with swelling in his surgically repaired knee.

• C Doug Weight sat out his second straight game and remains day-to-day with an undisclosed injury to his lower right leg.

• D Freddy Meyer is day-to-day with a groin strain suffered Jan. 5 in Edmonton.

• C Mike Sillinger, who has appeared in just seven games since undergoing season-ending hip surgery last February, is out indefinitely after suffering another hip injury Dec. 29 against the Rangers.

• LW Andy Hilbert suffered a hairline fracture in his left foot Dec. 26 against Toronto and is expected to miss 2-to-4 weeks.

• D Andy Sutton suffered a broken right foot on a blocked shot Dec. 19 in Minnesota. He is expected to miss at least 6-to-8 weeks.

• C Frans Nielsen has been practicing with the team but hasn’t played since suffering multiple leg injuries Nov. 21 in New Jersey.

• C Nate Thompson missed his 12th straight game since suffering a fractured ankle Dec. 13.