Rick DiPietro missed another game last night after being examined by a doctor during the day.
He was listed as being “day-to-day” with “a lower body injury” that he suffered on Saturday night. The injury, whatever it was, is “unrelated to his previous injuries.”
That’s all the news the Islanders saw fit to give out last night regarding their franchise goaltender, who has had two hip surgeries, missed the first four games of the season because he had not fully recovered from offseason knee surgery, but was apparently healthy enough to serve as backup.
It’s been a strange beginning to the season, as the team has used the NHL’s new injury policy to keep injury situations murky.
More worrying is that the brittle DiPietro – who didn’t dress for last night’s 4-2 loss to the Rangers, the team’s fourth straight defeat – is showing no signs of becoming more durable.
“Ricky’s a big part of the team, but what are you going to do?” Bill Guerin said. “He’s just like everybody else. If he’s not here, he can’t help us. It sounds cold, but that’s the way it is.”
On Saturday, DiPietro started his third straight match, but was pulled after one period. Coach Scott Gordon said that DiPietro’s departure was not based on his performance, without elaborating. Last night, Joey MacDonald again started in DiPietro’s place, and Yann Danis was recalled to back up.
Freddy Meyer is day-to-day with an abdominal strain – the lone injury that the team specified – and fellow defenseman Brendan Witt is out for three to four weeks with a lower body injury. (Witt was involved in a knee-on-knee collision on Saturday and then hobbled past reporters yesterday with a massive knee brace on.)
Meyer’s spot was taken by Brent Skinner, who made his NHL debut last night.