A week ago, the New York Islanders were sitting in seventh place in the NHL's Eastern Conference as they embarked on a four-game road trip that began in Montreal and concludes tonight in Tampa Bay.



The Isles had a one-goal lead early in the first period against the Canadiens when the game, and perhaps their season, came crashing down. Goaltender Rick DiPietro suffered a head injury after colliding with Steve Begin with 4:19 to go in the opening period and hasn't played since. Backup goalie Mike Dunham was burned five times by Montreal over the last two periods and gave up a combined 12 goals in losses to Ottawa and Florida that dropped New York out of a playoff spot.

If DiPietro can't lace up the skates to face the Lightning, the Islanders are likely to use recent call-up Wade Dubielewicz instead of Dunham. That's not to say Dunham deserves all the blame, but even defenseman Brendan Witt admitted the team's confidence has been in the dumps since DiPietro went down.









The Islanders' 78 points matches their total from last season when 92 points was needed to qualify for the playoffs in the East. Tampa Bay, which happened to be that eighth-place team in the conference a year ago, enters Tuesday's contest four points ahead of the Isles and looking to end a three-game slide.



The Lightning was peppered in Washington on Sunday, 7-1, and trail Atlanta by six points (with one game in hand) in the race for the top spot in the Southeast Division. But with nine games remaining, Coach John Tortorella's team needs to check the rearview mirror before worrying about catching the Thrashers.

Tampa Bay leads the season series 3-0. The Lightning have been installed as -200 favorites, with a total of 6.5. Word on "the street" is that DiPietro is a 50/50 shot to be in the net tonight.

By: Bob Acton

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Peter is an experienced sports writer and handicapper, who has written for the sports industry for over 10 years. He has years writing for Sports Scene, sports consulting on 33 Made for Television and Major Motion Pictures.