Now that I’ve gotten everyone else out of the way, it’s time to break down the play of the Islanders goaltenders this year.

Wade Dubielewicz- 5-3, 3.37 GAA, .898 save percentage. While those numbers are far from amazing, they don’t tell the whole story. In his past three starts, Dubie has three wins and a GAA of 2.00. In his first few starts, he wasn’t nearly as confident as he was late last season and he was having major problems moving around the net. Not to mention the start against the Maple Leafs [Where he gave up eight goals] where the defense hung him out to dry. The same thing can be said about the game in Atlanta on December 1, where he gave up four in a 4-0 loss. Unlike Isles starting goaltender Rick DiPietro, the defense has to support Dubie in net, otherwise they have trouble winning. However, one the defense gets going and gets used to fishing all those loose pucks from the goal area, they play just as hard for Dubie as they do DP.

Rating- C+ - Despite the very strong starts recently, his play his been extremely inconsistent. What hurt his rating more than anything was his first few starts of the season. However, if he can find a way to continue his stellar play of late, this rating won’t mean a thing.

Rick DiPietro- 19-17, 2.57 GAA, .911 save percentage. Just like Dubie, DP’s numbers are tricky ones to read into as well. Even though it seems as if he had a much better season last year, remember that in addition to Radek Martinek and Brendan Witt, he also had Sean Hill and Tom Poti playing solid hockey behind him as well. Now with similar numbers in GAA and save percentage, despite the Isles depleted defensive core, it’s easy to see how much he’s matured and developed this season. He’s also become much more adept at playing the puck and if he keeps it up, he might even net himself a goal this season. He’s already got more points than Chris Simon, ha-ha.

Rating- A+ - It’s hard to ask for more from a goaltendier in a situation like DiPietro is in right now. Nonetheless, he continues to keep the Islanders in pretty much every game he plays in and is slowly becoming a huge star in this league. If you didn’t think that way before, then you should check out the video of him at the All-Star game and the skills competition. It’s official: DP has arrived.