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DiPietro gets 100th career win as Islanders beat Rangers

Nov 20, 2007 - 4:29 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NEW YORK (Ticker) - Three days after helping to deny Martin Brodeur of a major milestone, Josef Vasicek assisted in giving Rick DiPietro a notable achievement.

Vasicek scored 5:51 into the second period and DiPietro made 18 saves for his 100th career victory as the New York Islanders remained unbeaten against the New York Rangers this season with a 2-1 victory Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

Brodeur picked up his 500th career win Saturday in Philadelphia but before doing so was denied of in front of his home fans in losses to the Rangers and Islanders. Vasicek had a hand in that, scoring the only goal in Friday's 1-0 win.

While that victory kept Brodeur stuck on 499 for another day, it also moved DiPietro within one of the century mark, something only Billy Smith, Glenn Resech and Kelly Hrudey achieved with the Islanders.

In his first attempt at 100 wins, DiPietro had a somewhat quiet night as he faced just 13 shots through the first 40 minutes and was given a two-goal lead in the first 5:51 of the second on goals by Ruslan Fedotenko and Vasicek.

"It just means I've been in the league for a couple years," said DiPietro, who is 100-85-8-14 since making his debut on January 27, 2001. "It's a long way to go. Hopefully I'll stay healthy."

DiPietro might not even be going for 100 wins against the Rangers if he had not been very successful against them in the last two seasons. Of his 10 victories against New York, seven have been in the last two seasons, including three this year.

He has been among the many reasons for the Islanders' success against the Rangers in the last two seasons. After losing all six meetings in the season before the lockout and five of eight two years ago, the Islanders have gone 8-1-2 against the Rangers and 4-0-1 at Madison Square Garden.

"A lot of those games, a puck bounces here, a puck bounces there," Islanders coach Ted Nolan said. "It could go either way. We got a couple of lucky breaks and bounces and Vasicek goes down and makes a tremendous shot right off the top inside crossbar. We had the opportune chances and made the best of it."

"It's a big road game," DiPietro said. "We play well here over the last four or five games. We've been fortunate. We've capitalized on some good plays and played a smart game tonight."

DiPietro has only allowed 19 goals in his last 10 appearances against the Rangers. The only one he gave up Monday was defenseman Michal Rozsival's shorthanded goal 6:37 into the second.

"It's weird," said Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who is 3-5-1 in his last 10 contests against the Islanders. "I really don't get it. They've been good, they played smart and waited for their chances and our mistakes.

"I don't think we played our best yet against them. We get another chance next week and we definitely have to play our best. We have to get a win against this team. We know they're good, but we can still prove we have a much better team than we showed them."

That forced the Islanders into another one-goal game, something they have done in the last seven contests. In those games, they have won five times and Monday's victory gave them an 8-3-0 record in one-goal contests.

DiPietro preserved the victory with a sprawling stop on Rangers captain Jaromir Jagr midway through the third.

"That's the way our team has to play," Nolan said. "We're not going to blow anyone out and try to win those games, 6-4, or 6-5. It'd be nice to win those type of games, but our game is doing the simple things."

"It seems we're a lot more stronger in these one-goal games," Islanders defenseman Brendan Witt added. "And I think that's a good habit to get into."

After a sluggish first period for both teams that featured several stoppages, the Islanders controlled most of the play in the second. They outshot the Rangers, 14-7, and scored on their first two shots of the period.

Fedotenko opened the scoring on the power play just eight seconds into the period and moments after Mike Comrie won a faceoff from Blair Betts.

As the draw was finishing, Fedotenko had already started streaking through the slot and that allowed him to outrace Marcel Hossa and Rangers defensemen Dan Girardi. Once he had the defenders beaten, Fedotenko put a wrister past Lundqvist for his sixth goal of the season.

The Islanders doubled their lead just over six minutes later when Sean Bergenheim helped create a turnover in the defensive zone just inside the blue line. Once Bergenheim gained possession, he dished to Vasicek, who put a wrist shot from the right circle over Lundqvist's stick.

It was his eighth goal and third in as many games. It also turned out to be the game-winner when Rozsival converted a backhanded pass from Brendan Shanahan 46 seconds later.

"It was a great battle down low by Miro (Miroslav Satan) and Bergie (Bergenheim) down low," Vasicek said. "I had a 2-on-1 or 3-on-2, had a little hook from behind and just decided to take a shot and it went in.

"Vasicek, he's been really good right from the get-go of our training camp," Nolan said. "He's got size, he's got skating ability, he's got hockey-sense."

Lundqvist finished with 22 saves for the Rangers, who had a five-game winning streak snapped. Despite the loss, New York has still won 10 of its last 12 since a 4-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 27.

The Rangers' only losses in that stretch have been against the Islanders, who also beat them, 3-2, at Nassau Coliseum on November 6.

"They work together a lot better than the other teams," said Jagr, who has no goals in his last seven contests against the Islanders. "They know where their other guys should be and they cycle pretty well."