DiPietro Injured As Arbour Coaches Islanders to Another Win

Nov 04, 01:00 AM

Current Headlines: UNIONDALE, N.Y. _ A night that was meant for nostalgia and good times turned scary for the Islanders on Saturday night when franchise goaltender Rick DiPietro was struck in the right eye by Sidney Crosby's stick in the second period during Al Arbour Night at the Coliseum.

DiPietro did not return to the game, which the Islanders won, 3-2, on a pair of third-period goals by Miroslav Satan. DiPietro was taken to an eye doctor's office for evaluation. Coach Ted Nolan said Crosby's stick made contact with DiPietro's eye. The Islanders did not know the extent of the injury.

"He was walking out on his own and there's no bandage," Nolan said. "So we'll hope for the best."

A postgame ceremony honored the 1,500th Islanders game and 740th win by the 75-year-old Arbour, who signed a one-day contract to "coach" his former team Saturday night. The 10-year-old "Arbour 739" banner in the Coliseum's rafters was replaced by a new one with "Arbour 1500" on it as former stars Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier, among others, looked on with Arbour's family.

But mixed in with the good feelings about Arbour's stint alongside Nolan behind the Islanders' bench was concern for DiPietro, who was inadvertently clocked by Crosby 13:56 into the second period with the Islanders trailing 2-1.

Crosby said his stick was lifted into DiPietro's mask by Islanders defenseman Radek Martinek, and Martinek confirmed this. "I raised Crosby's stick," he said.

Crosby was whistled for a four-minute double-minor.

DiPietro was replaced by Wade Dubielewicz and the backup stopped all seven shots he faced in his first action since Oct. 11. The Islanders (7-4) tied the score 5:30 into the period when Josef Vasicek found a streaking Satan in front for his second of the season.

Crosby, who was booed every time he touched the puck after the high-stick incident, hit a post 18 seconds later. Satan scored the winner with 2:41 left off a rebound of Marc-Andre Bergeron's shot.

Arbour was introduced just before game time as he walked along the sideboards to the Islanders' bench. The crowd of 16,234 waved banners trumpeting his 1,500th game as the listed Islanders coach. They chanted "740" and "Al Arbour" when it was over.

"It was an electric atmosphere," Trent Hunter said. "It was a lot of fun for the guys. We were grateful to get that win for him."

The ceremonial first pucks were dropped by former general manager Bill Torrey, the architect of the Islanders' Stanley Cup champion teams, and Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman, a good friend of Arbour's.

"It feels really great," Arbour said afterward, "but I didn't real.ly do that much."

Trailing 2-0, Hunter got the Islanders on the board at 8:20 with his third goal of the season. Hunter and Mike Sillinger played the two-man game up the left boards and Hunter fired one past Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Islanders had a four-minute power play after Crosby nailed DiPietro. DiPietro skated off to get stitches on the cut near his right eye as he was replaced by Dubielewicz; the penalty was originally called a minor but was changed to a double-minor after Nolan_no kidding around now, he is the coach_complained that the offense was worse than a minor because DiPietro was really bleeding.

DiPietro was called back onto the ice so the officials could perform a wound check. When it was shown that he was sufficiently bloody, Crosby was sent off for four minutes instead of two.

But the Islanders' power play, the second-best in the NHL, was unable to capitalize, and they trailed 2-1 after two periods despite outshooting Pittsburgh 28-19.

Notes & quotes: LW Sean Bergenheim (upper body injury) did not play, as expected. C Ben Walter was summoned from Bridgeport and skated 2:59 in his Isles debut.

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