In the words of Yogi Berra, it’s starting to look like déjà vu all over again for Rick DiPietro.
The Islanders announced yesterday their oft-injured goalie suffered a concussion after taking a Brian Rolston slap shot to the head in Wednesday’s practice and there is no timetable for his return.
“It’s impossible to put into words how frustrating,” DiPietro told The Post last night. “I feel good, my knee feels good and body feels good.
“I don’t know if it’s bad luck or what it is, but it seems to always find me here. Hopefully this is it. Hopefully when I get done I can get into a game and get things going.”
DiPietro played just 26 games last season because of an assortment of injuries, and has played 39 games total over the past three years. The 30-year-old netminder, in the sixth year of the 15-year, $67 million contract he signed in 2006, has yet to play this season, spending the first two games on the bench backing up Al Montoya.
DiPietro was still undergoing tests Thursday and Evgeni Nabokov dressed as Montoya’s backup for the Islanders’ 5-1 win over the Lightning — a situation that likely will be the same tonight when the Islanders host the rival Rangers at the Coliseum.
“It’s disruptive,” Capuano said. “Ricky’s had a great camp. . . . It’s just too bad that it happened when it happened.”
DiPietro has had three recorded concussions since 2007, the most recent coming last Feb. 2, when he got in a fight with Penguins goalie Brent Johnson in which he broke his left orbital bone.
“It’s tough to really compare them, they all have a different set of circumstances,” DiPietro said. “I feel pretty good today, but I’m just hoping I wake up tomorrow and feel better.”
With a recent spotlight on concussions not just in the NHL but in all sports, DiPietro has followed all medical protocols, but was given no definitive schedule for returning.
“I don’t think it’s weeks,” he said. “It’s all dependent on the individual and how they respond to the healing process of your brain, I guess. I’m not really 100 percent sure how that works, but every day it’s getting better.”
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The Rangers will be without defenseman Michael Sauer (shoulder) tonight, and he will be replaced by Jeff Woywitka. In his first game with team, Woywitka will be paired with Steve Eminger, Michael Del Zotto will skate with rookie Tim Erixon and Ryan McDonagh pairs with Dan Girardi on the first unit. Islanders young forward Nino Niederreiter (groin) and defenseman Milan Jurcina (groin) will not play, and both are day-to-day.