Tavares, Moulson lift Isles over Flames, DP hurt again

The encouraging news is the Islanders continued their impressive play last night, posting a 5-2 win over the Flames at The Saddledome. John Tavares tallied twice and set up another matching a career high three points and Matt Moulson added two goals as the Isles won for the seventh time in nine games (7-1-1). But while Tavares followed up his second three-point effort with No.3 this season, the club again lost Rick DiPietro to an injury.

Leading 4-1 thanks to a nifty Moulson deflection of rookie defenseman Travis Hamonic's right point shot off a Zenon Konopka faceoff win, the battered club saw their franchise goalie bent over in pain after stretching out to make a save during a Calgary power play. The trainer immediately came out and after a few minutes to see if he could stick it out, the ultracompetitive DiPietro finally was helped to the locker room to treat a groin strain.

“I don’t know if a man’s body is supposed to be contorted in those kind of positions,” the former 2000 No.1 overall selection said. ” I felt a twinge and hopefully it’s nothing serious.”

With DP again sidelined, 27 year-old rookie Nathan Lawson fulfilled a childhood dream coming in relief to play the hero in front of the hometown crowd. The undrafted free agent from Alberta had previously debuted against Phoenix on Dec.18 making 32 saves in an overtime defeat. Here he was two weeks later forced into action under anxious circumstances. Not surprisingly, the Flames crept within 4-2 when David Moss converted at the doorstep for his second of the game. Pressing for more late in the second, Moss nearly had the hat trick if not for a clutch leg stop from Lawson, keeping his team comfortably ahead.

“I know what a competitor he is and he came in on a power play, too. Pretty rough go for it there but he accepted the challenge,” pleased coach Jack Capuano pointed out. “I thought he was square to the puck, played the rebounds pretty well, and he battled for us tonight.”

“It feels good to get a win and get a few games under my belt now,” the excited netminder expressed after turning aside 28 of 29 shots after the Flames came at him from every direction. “It’s a dream come true. I just want to keep rolling with it and prove myself now.”

The power play was a big factor early on with the Islanders connecting twice in a three-goal first. Both times, Tavares struck. He opened the contest by beating Jay Bouwmeester in front for a gimme rebound off a P.A. Parenteau shot. After Moulson and Moss traded goals, the emerging sophomore pivot took a Andrew MacDonald cross ice feed at the left circle and wired one upstairs past Calgary backup Henrik Karlsson, restoring order less than two minutes after Moss tallied.

“A good all-around game for us,” Tavares noted after staying hot with 13 points (5-8-13) over his last nine. “Great for Lawson to get in there and do his thing, coming in cold. Everyone did their role and we handled the lead well and the pressure when we needed to.”

Despite outshooting the Islanders 15-3 in the final stanza, Calgary couldn't draw closer thanks to Lawson who brought tears to his family. With Karlsson pulled, rookie Michal Grabner sealed it with an empty netter from Mark Eaton with 66 seconds left. It was his ninth goal. MacDonald and Parenteau each had two assists.

The Islanders (12-19-6, 30 Pts)have today and tomorrow off before visiting Edmonton Thursday night (9 ET) and Colorado Saturday afternoon (3 ET). The five-game Western trip concludes in the Windy City on Sunday.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Nathan Lawson, NYI (28 saves in relief for 1st career NHL win)
2nd Star-Matt Moulson, NYI (2 goals-13, 14)
1st Star-John Tavares, NYI (2 PPG-12, 13/ assist)

DiPietro on IR, Mottau's season over

If only something would go right for the Islanders. Injuries continue to haunt the once proud franchise. Having already lost top defender Mark Streit for almost the entire year and still minus top power wing Kyle Okposo since training camp, the club will now skate without No.1 goalie Rick DiPietro. This time, DP will miss time due to swelling in his right knee. Quoting Yogi Berra, "It's deja vu all over again," for the career Islander.

The Islanders also lost veteran blueliner Mike Mottau for the rest of the season due to a torn labrum in his right hip after finally being cleared for physical activity following an eye injury which sidelined him for 10 games. The former Devil underwent successful surgery. In 20 contests, he had three assists while logging important minutes on the Isles' back end. Kind of a shame since as it turned out, he was a lot more important to the Devils than first thought. Credit the one-time Ranger draft pick for turning his career around, carving a niche which makes him serviceable.

As for DiPietro, this is nothing new. He's missed significant time before for the same issue, even being shutdown. In 14 games, DP is 4-6-4 with a 3.68 GAA, .880 save percentage and a shutout. Hard to believe that it was over two years ago that he was an NHL All-Star before hip problems forced him to have season ending surgery. It's been an emotional rollercoaster since for the former No.1 overall pick out of BU 10 years ago. A look at some of the stints spent upstairs tells the sad tale:

12/26/08-missed 27 games due to knee surgery
1/2/09-missed 3 games (groin)
4/12/09-missed last 41 games of season due to swollen right knee
1/4/10-missed 33 games due to knee surgery
4/11/10-missed final 22 games of season (left knee injury)
12/21/10-swollen left knee-IR

He sat out during Monday's home shootout loss to Phoenix. Rookie Nathan Lawson debuted making 32 saves. Despite holding up well, he couldn't prevent Martin Hanzal from tying it late and ultimately was lit up in the skill competition- particularly by Kyle Turris, who did a fancy move kicking the puck off his skate before roofing it over Lawson.

The Islanders host the Lightning tonight. So, it doesn't get any easier for Jack Capuano's club that remains 30th overall with 18 points, trailing only the Devils. They'll face them tomorrow night at The Rock in a game before the Christmas Break. That should be interesting.

Does Lawson get the call again tonight? We don't see why not. May as well see what the kid can do.