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DiPietro makes 28 saves to blank Rangers

Dec 27, 2006 - 5:26 AM UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) -- Rick DiPietro is playing so well at Nassau Coliseum, even Jaromir Jagr can not put the puck past him.

DiPietro stopped 28 shots to record his third straight home shutout and Jason Blake and Arron Asham scored to lead the New York Islanders to their fourth win in five games, a 2-0 triumph over the New York Rangers.

Entering 1-6-0 against the Rangers at home, DiPietro made eight saves in the first period, six in the second and 14 in the third for his fourth shutout of the season and 10th of his career.

"He was in full control," Islanders coach Ted Nolan said.

After posting shutouts against the Atlanta Thrashers on December 16 and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday, DiPietro saved his best effort for this one. In the process, he shut down Jagr to end his 22-game point streak at the Nassau Coliseum. The five-time Art Ross Trophy winner had 18 goals and 45 assists during that stretch.

"We didn't have that many chances and they played very physical," Jagr said. "God bless them. They played a good hockey game."

DiPietro received plenty of help from his teammates, especially defenseman Brendan Witt, who shadowed Jagr for most of the night and limited him to five shots, all in the third period.

"It's the defense playing well," DiPietro said. "I'm the beneficiary of some good defense being played in front of me. ... Usually, if you're holding (Jagr) to a hat trick, you're playing well."

Veteran Chris Simon also came to DiPietro's defense, pushing Jason Ward into the boards after Ward was called for a charging penalty on the Islanders' netminder in the first session.

"It's nice to have a guy like him backing me up," DiPietro said.

DiPietro made a nice leg save on a shot by Adam Hill in the first period and a glove stop on Ward less than a minute into the second. He also denied Brendan Shanahan's slap shot from the right faceoff circle with eight minutes remaining as the Islanders defeated the Rangers for the third time in as many meetings this season.

"We're trying to build our own identity and change the culture of this organization," Nolan said.

The Islanders sent the Rangers to their sixth straight defeat for the first time since March 2004.

"We're not about to quit," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "We're not going to let selfishness creep into our game."

Asham broke the scoreless tie with 3:17 left in the second session on a slap shot from just inside the blue line, which deflected off defenseman Karel Rachunek and went over goaltender Henrik Lundqvist's left shoulder.

"I saw it late," said Lundqvist, who made 36 saves. "I didn't have a chance of making a save."

Blake scored his 21st goal at 1:48 of the third session with a wrister from the left circle that found the top-right corner of the net.

"Our goal has been defense first and that leads to a productive offense," said Blake, who had a hat trick against the Rangers last Tuesday.