Wed 5 Mar 2008
Dubi Dubi Doo. No. Not those nostalgic Bud Ice “Beware The Penguin” commercials.
Rather the stellar play of Islander backup Wade Dubielewicz, who once again outdueled Henrik Lundqvist in a shootout to give his team two large points in a 4-3 shootout win at the Garden last night.
With All-Star No.1 goalie Rick DiPietro still out due to the death of his grandmother, Dubielewicz made his second consecutive start and proved to be the difference in another topsy turvy affair between the two bitter New York rivals.
Coming off a tough luck start in which his team fired 53 shots on Florida backup Craig Anderson but fell short on the scoreboard 1-0 the other night, Dubielewicz kept the Islanders afloat early on with some solid stops to keep the contest scoreless.
He saved all 12 Ranger shots in a period controlled by the MSG hosts. Blake Comeau’s centering feed from behind the Ranger goal went off a defenseman to put the Isles in front despite being outshot 12-6 and largely outplayed.
Rookie Nigel Dawes squared the match when he buried a Scott Gomez feed for a power play goal. It was his 11th.
However, the Isles cameback with consecutive goals two minutes apart thanks to some shaky play from Lundqvist. First, Sean Bergenheim’s 40 foot wrister beat him on the next shift. Not long after, a brutal turnover behind the net led directly to a Trent Hunter goal which went through the netminder.
The Blueshirts did rally back thanks to a Chris Drury right wing blast slicing the deficit to one entering the final stanza.
Ryan Callahan knotted it up with a shorthanded tally, converting a Gomez rebound for his seventh.
The Isles nearly went ahead but Ruslan Fedotenko’s shot hit the far post. The overtime was conservatively played with not much in the way of big chances forcing it to a shootout.
In it, Dawes and Islander captain Bill Guerin traded goals in the second round. A questionable decision by Tom Renney sending defenseman Michal Rozsival out over team captain Jaromir Jagr, Drury and Callahan left many pondering why.
Dubielewicz not surprisingly turned aside his chance. Following a Brandon Dubinsky miss, Islander rookie Jeff Tambellini won it in the sixth round beating Lundqvist with a wrister top shelf.
Dubielewicz finished with 27 saves and stopped five of six Ranger shooters to give his team a big win getting them within three of eighth place Philly for the final playoff spot.
Lundqvist only made 15 saves and struggled most of the night leaving more questions as to what’s wrong with the recently re-signed netminder.
He easily could’ve been pulled in favor of capable backup Stephen Valiquette for a second straight game.
The Rangers did pickup a point for the 10th consecutive game improving to 7-0-3 during that span. They remained in seventh due to a Boston 1-0 OT loss to Florida. Both have the same amount of points (77) but the Bruins by virtue of one more win (35) and one extra game left are still ahead.
The rematch completing the home-and-home between the archrivals is tomorrow night at Nassau Coliseum.
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