By MARC BERMAN
BUFFALO – Unlike some teams I know too well, the Islanders didn’t feel sorry for themselves, didn’t make excuses and just played the final couple weeks of the regular season without their concussed franchise goalie Ricky DiPietro.
The Isles won their final three games and eked into the playoffs with a third-string, minor-league goalie named Wade Dubielewicz. And tonight, upon DiPietro’s return, the Islanders pulled off a stunner in Buffalo.
Three weeks without facing a shot, DiPietro looked like he’d never left the crease, thrust into the cauldron of the playoffs tonight on the road and stonewalling the Sabres, the league’s best club, in a 3-2 shocker.
Since I won’t get a taste of the playoffs with the Knicks, I figured it was a good idea to stop off in Buffalo tonight on my drive to Toronto and catch Game 2.
And I’m glad I did. I saw something really special in the 25-year-old, bearded DiPietro, fast living up to expectations and a 15-year contract. The rock music blared in the Isles’ locker room late tonight after DiPietro stopped one point-blank chance after another in notching 32 saves.
There is nothing special on the beat I cover now. The Knicks’ season has gone up in flames and tomorrow’s game in Toronto is utterly meaningless. The Knicks are the only one of the nine New York sports teams to not make the playoffs in the 2006-2007 umbrella.
The Islanders are a club I used to cover for The Post in the late 1990’s when they were god-awful. My how things have changed. There was Ted Nolan, in his purple tie, in the bowels of the arena, smiling again in Buffalo. Amazing that I remember calling the former banished Sabres coach nine years ago a multitude of times during one of the Islanders’ coaching searches.
Buffalo is still without a major sports championship. But these lightning-quick, blue-and-yellow Sabres, with one of the best new logos in sports, have some believing the drought could be over, that Buffalo could be known for more than just housing the world’s best chicken-wing establishments. That’s what made the Islanders’ win tonight that much more important. The series is tied at 1, back to Long Island.
Toward the final minutes, after the Buffalo fans were done chanting “Ref you (stink)’’, DiPietro and the Isles made HSBC Arena sound so silent you could hear the typing of your computer.
Even when the Sabres tied it at 2-2 three minutes into the third period, DiPietro stopped four, five shots in succession before the sixth slipped through.
I joined The Post’s Jay Greenberg in the press box, along with Greg Logan, who became the Islanders beat writer for Newsday this season after covering the Knicks for years. The dignity and professionalism Logan brought to the Knicks beat and his interrogating style is missed. And now Logan’s got a real team and story to cover.