Takin' a T/O With BT: Joey MacDonald, There's Nothing to Grimace About So Far

The New York Islanders are fighting the Ottawa Senators and the Florida Panthers to see who can stay out of last place in the Eastern Conference, but while some were expecting the Islanders to be here, there are a few things that have come from the files of the unexpected on Long Island.

For one, the resurgence of Doug Weight and Bill Guerin has caught a few off guard. The 37 and 38-year old Americans are both coming off of extremely putrid seasons.

Weight split last year between the Anaheim Ducks and St Louis Blues, only tallying 25 points while Guerin put in a 44-point campaign on Long Island. With fast starts from both though, not only are the comebacks refreshing, but it takes a bit of the pressure off the youngsters like Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey to produce.

Along with those two greybeards, Trent Hunter seems to be over his post-lockout blues as well, starting out with a sizzling seven goals over the first month and a half.

But the biggest surprise has been Rick DiPietro...or rather, the man who's replaced him.

If you were to tell any gathering of hockey fans around the league that Rick DiPietro and Marian Gaborik would miss extended time this season due to injury, they wouldn't be surprised—in fact if you wanted to make money, you'd have to bet the opposite.

Anyone betting that Joey MacDonald could keep the Islanders afloat though would've been in for a big pay day.

Granted there's a difference between keeping a last-place, rebuilding team afloat and a Stanley Cup favorite afloat, but there's no denying that MacDonald has done wonders where many thought he wouldn't succeed.

Coming into this season, the 28-year old was fairly well travelled. He had spent a season in the QMJHL, three seaosns in the OHL, and a combined 242 games in the ECHL and AHL.

He had also only played seventeen NHL games, complete wiht a 3-8-3 record, including two last season with the Islanders.

Early on though, the door seemed to be ajar on the Island. DiPietro would be out of action for the first few games of the season recovering from offseason surgery, and MacDonald got his chance.

Starting the Isles' first four games of the season, MacDonald helped them out to a 2-2-0 start, with only a seven-goals allowed outing against the Buffalo Sabres being the big deterrent of MacDonald's starts.

Apparently healthy, DiPietro came back to the Islanders, hoping to capitalize on the .500 start of the team.

Unfortunately, DiPietro was ineffective in his first three games of the season, allowing nine goals and only making it through a period of his third and most-recent game of the season.

As DiPietro fell to even more knee troubles (worry not Isles' fans, it's not the knee that has an injury history) and surgery that would sideline him for six weeks, MacDonald found himself in the midst of the starters' role once again.

Although the initial three-game stretch following DiPietro's injury was troublesome (the Nova Scotia native went 0-2-1) for MacDonald, he quickly picked up his pace heading into November.

With two straight wins over the Columbus Blue Jackets and the rival New York Rangers, MacDonald was just starting to get the wheels turning. He stumbled a bit, losing to Atlanta, the Penguins in a shootout, and the Philadelphia Flyers, but he's since found his stride again with back-to-back wins over the Ottawa Senators in a recent home-and-home.

While backup Yann Danis has only gotten into one game so far, MacDonald is letting his play dictate who starts for the Islanders during DiPietro's absence.

With a matchup tonight against the surging Vancouver Canucks, MacDonald is prepared to put another notch in the belt and strengthen his grasp on the NHL job he's coveted for so long.

Some may long for the road less travelled, but without it Joey MacDonald may not be where he is today.

Bryan Thiel is a Senior Writer and NHL Community Leader for Bleacher Report. If you want to get in contact with Bryan you can do so through his profile, and you can also check out his previous work in his archives.

This article in no way reflects the thoughts or ideas of a similar article on the New York Islanders' website released on the same day.