Over the last few games, the Islanders play on defense has gotten consistently sloppy. Nonetheless, I stick to my guns when I say that Rick DiPietro’s play has not been the reason why this team is stuck in a rut.

However more than a few fans have expressed their opinions to me over the past few weeks, to the point where I have been getting e-mails [from more than a few people] who are complaining that I’m “drinking the orange and blue kool-aid.,” among a few other choice remarks that put a smirk on my face. However, anyone that’s been reading this blog since I started it last season knows that I am the farthest thing from a huge DP supporter. As a matter of fact, I dedicated several posts last season [which aren’t back on the site because it crashed in June, but will be back once I repost everything over the summer] to bashing his idiotic puck chasing and selfish play.

The reason why it was so easy to do that last season was because after about 25 games, Tom Poti, Sean Hill and Brendan Witt were playing some extremely solid hockey. Bruno Gervais and Chris Campoli were also working hard and playing tough in their own end, making me extremely teed off that this team was hovering around the .500 mark all season. If DP would have played the way he’s played this season, last year, this team could have been in the fifth or sixth spot in the Eastern Conference, not the eighth.

But enough of the wishful thinking. The reason why the Islanders are under .500 right now has nothing to do with DP. The defense is no where near as solid as last year’s and the offense is anemic. Does anyone remember that the Isles had a 40-goal scorer on this team last season and four 20-goal scorers [and five players with over 50 points], to go along with two defensemen with over 40 points and Ryan Smyth? I’d be surprised if the Isles had more than one player with over 50 points this season. Now ask yourself, does it even matter what type of goaltending you get when your team scores this much. The answer is no.

Right now, DP could go out there and make 35 saves, give up two goals and his chances at victory would be extremely slim, so don’t get on his case when the Isles lose 4-3 against a team that is far superior in every facet of the game as they are. Until the Isles step it up on both ends of the ice, things like this are going to be happening a lot more than the annoying e-mails I’ve been getting lately [which I welcome regardless of their “matter of factness” and annoying self-righteous bravado]. And like I said, this has nothing to do with how I feel about DiPietro. The Isles could clone Tony Esposito and Ken Dryden and put them in net and this team would still be in the same situation. Throw all the stats on DP that you want at me that you got, but they don’t mean anything in the end.

As far as I’m concerned, the only stat that does mean anything is the Islanders league-low 132 goals.