A point is a point is a point

Get the point?

Well, although the New York Islanders did not get the extra point last night, the mash unit team from the suburbs of New York were able to pry at least one point from the game they played against the Capitals.

The amusing aspect from the outcome of last nights contest is the new record the Islanders currently have: 6-6-6.  Scary, isn’t it?  Is this an omen for the Islanders? Come on, I joke, but in all seriousness, the Islanders are twelve points, or six wins better then a lot of the “experts” thought they would be early on this season.

Without the likes of regulars Doug Weight, Kyle Okposo and Radek Martinek, the Islanders were still able to stay on course with the Caps last night, forcing the game to overtime and then a shootout.

Trent Hunter, who returned just last night from injury, was able to tie the game late in the third period.  Hunter, who was the only Islander to beat Capitals goalie Semyon Varlamov who replaced Jose Theodore early in the game, forced the game to overtime giving tthe Islanders another point in the standings.

The bigger story of the night was the play of Islanders goalie Dwayne Roloson.  Roloson faced 41 shots from the Capitals and turned aside 37, doing everything in his power to preserve a point. Roloson has been a keyy off-season free agent signing, and could give DiPietro a much longer rest then originally planned on.  I do not think it would be safe, especially if the Islanders keep getting points, to rush Rick (DiPietro) back from injury and get him into games right away.  It should be a process, and at most, he should back up Roloson when he returns until at least a full off-season and a full training camp and pre-season before he can officially take a number one role. We all know, that when fully healthy, Rick DiPietro will be the number one goaltender for the New York Islanders, but for right now why ruin a good thing?  Hopefully Scott Gordon and company are smart and careful in how they go about the DiPietro situation, but until we know for sure what the status of DiPietro is I will not continue to discuss this matter.

The Islanders are off tonight, and then have back to back games on the road against South East division teams.  Friday the Islaners are in Carolina and Saturday the Islanders are in Florida.  It will be interesting to see how Gordon juggles his goaltending situation for the back to back tilts.

Quick hits:

Matt Moulson and John Tavares are tied for the team lead in points, but with 14 points in 18 games.

John Tavares is tied with Ryan O’Reilly and James van Riemsdyk for the lead in rookie points.

Dwayne Roloson is 5-1-4 this year.  He has been one of the bigger reasons the Islanders are looking the way they do this season.

In their last ten games played, the Islanders are 5-2-3 and could make up some ground in the standings by obtaining at least 3 of 4 points this weekend.