Normally I am not a big NY Islanders fan, but today is different, for two reasons.   One is that the Islanders beat the division leading NY Rangers, which keeps my Devils only 7 points back. The second and more important reason though is that Rick DiPietro earned his 100th NHL win. This will be the first of many milestones that he will reach playing for New York’s "other" team.

The Islanders are a team that was flying below the radar coming into this season, losing a core of players to free agency.  Before the season started I was sitting around talking to my buddies and we were discussing how powerful a lot of the eastern conference teams became over the summer. None of them gave the Islanders a chance; but with the likes of Mike Comrie, Miro Satan and Bill Guerin leading the offense and the gritty defense of Brendan Witt, Bryan Berard and Andy Sutton the Islanders only need the first save from DiPietro, and he makes those often.

The Islanders are now 6-0 vs. the Rangers and Devils this season and 7-2 at home, making themselves the most dangerous NY Metro area team. Usually it is the Devils who own this areas teams, but this year the man [DiPietro] with the big contract is stealing the show playing like his counterparts at The Rock and MSG. So congratulations Rick, I wish you the best of luck to many more NHL victories, just none against the Devils.

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