Last night could have been a battle between two stars, goaltenders who came up together through the American amateur ranks. They could have been going to Vancouver together in less than a month to try to win a medal for the United States in Olympic hockey.

The Sabres' Ryan Miller will be in Vancouver, the best hope for an American team that has some talent in net.

Rick DiPietro's best hope is a few more games like last night, his first at Nassau Coliseum in 13 months. He's starting over, with a humbler attitude and a desire to erase three years of painful memories.

"Not everything works out the way you want it to," Miller said before the game. It was Miller who was left off the American roster four years ago in Turin, Italy, while DiPietro was the main goaltender for an eighth-place squad.

Said Miller: "Things change so much, it's hard to stay on top, even without the injuries. But I'm happy he's stuck with it and I'd like to see him get back to form as quickly as possible. This is what he was meant to be doing."

That process has just begun. DiPietro made 31 saves and helped his team pick up two big points in a 3-2 shootout win that moved the Islanders into a tie for eighth in the East.

He was better than he was in his season debut, a 4-3 loss in Dallas nine days ago. He moved well, sometimes too well, straying out to play pucks the way he has for his whole career. He gave a couple of passes away, but this is his game, loose and active, full of the same sort of confidence he's brought to the rink since the Islanders drafted him first overall a decade ago.

But there is a new DiPietro now. He talks with a bit more caution, just the way he's moved through his year-long rehabilitation from a third knee surgery in two years.

"As much as this has been a bad thing, it's been a good thing as far as being able to step back, realize how lucky I am to be a professional athlete, all those things you take for granted coming to the rink every day," DiPietro said. "This is hopefully a learning experience, and I'm happy that it's almost over. When we can stop talking about [the injuries], it'll be a great day."

He's a proud man, one who never wanted to acknowledge his knee wasn't right last season, not with a new coach and that 15-year contract that made him the face of the Islanders. But his stubbornness last season is part of what made this comeback even longer.

"I think there was probably some frustration and disbelief that he was injured as bad as he was," Scott Gordon said. "Looking back on it, I never felt I really knew how bad he was hurt. He did a good job of making us believers, and to his credit, he wanted to play. Unfortunately, he had an injury where you couldn't fool your body. It just wouldn't allow him to do the things he needed. This year, he didn't try to hurry it up, he went about it the right way."

So there were two stints in Bridgeport, interrupted by the sort of tightness in his leg that DiPietro would have told no one about in the past.

There were countless hours on the ice with goaltending consultant Sudarshan Maharaj, countless hours off the ice to keep his fitness level up and knock off the 15 pounds of muscle he never really needed for his active on-ice style.

"He's done more away from game action than you could ever expect from a guy," Gordon said.

And now he's back. Not all the way, but enough to be trusted with games like last night's.

"When you're back in the NHL, all that matters is goals and wins," DiPietro said. "That's what's most important."

 Sentencing in fatal wrong-way DUI crash ... Federal workers face buyout deadline ... Going red for women's health Credit: Newsday

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 Sentencing in fatal wrong-way DUI crash ... Federal workers face buyout deadline ... Going red for women's health Credit: Newsday

Fiery crash closes LIE ... Amazon Fresh store canceled ... Snow in weekend forecast ... LI's best chicken wings

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