At 40, Roloson can still save Islanders in net

First there was the lightning-quick kick save to stop Flyers forward Scott Hartnell on a breakaway midway through the second period. Next came the flurry of stops that left him sprawling on his back minutes later. Then Dwayne Roloson robbed defenseman Braydon Coburn, snatching his blistering snap shot out of mid-air.

"I don't even know how he made some of those saves," teammate Matt Moulson said after the Islanders' preseason game in Philadelphia Wednesday night.

At 40 years old, Roloson still is defying expectations. He's still showcasing that ability to make ridiculous, acrobatic saves, that nagging need to improve and that stubborn will to succeed.

And Dwayne Roloson still is giving the Islanders the chance to win every night.

"He's like a bottle of red wine," said Roloson's former goaltending coach in Edmonton, Pete Peeters, who now works for the Anaheim Ducks. "He just gets better with age."

Roloson restored strength and stability to the Islanders' goaltending position last season, finishing with a record of 23-18-7 (including a streak of seven wins in eight starts from Dec. 23 to Jan. 12). The Islanders have not divulged how they plan to use him now that Rick DiPietro is healthy, but Roloson isn't worried about the details.

"I can't control who plays and when,'' he said, "so I just worry about what I can control."

Whether it's his offseason conditioning, his creasework or his pregame meal, Roloson is meticulous about everything he can control. On the ice, he plays angles and percentages, hunts the puck relentlessly and keeps his butterfly nice and tight.

"He's 40 years old and he's still so good because he's so focused," Rob Schremp said. "He's almost obsessive about his routine and rhythm."

The Islanders were lucky that Roloson found his rhythm early last season. With a new team and several young players in various stages of development, Roloson served as the backbone of a team struggling to find some consistency.

"I think he played extremely well for us, especially at the beginning of the year when we were still trying to figure out our identity," Islanders goaltending coach Mike Dunham said. "For our young guys to know he's very stable back there, that gives them the confidence to execute our game plan and not worry about making mistakes."

"It's so important to have good goaltending. You can't mask bad goaltending," coach Scott Gordon said. "Roli had a tremendous first half for us."

Always the perfectionist, however, Roloson wants to improve upon last season's performance.

"It was an OK season," he said. "I've never been a guy that's been too high or too low. Was it a great season? No. Was it a bad season? No. It was OK.''

He added, "There's always room for improvement. A great year would be winning the last game of the playoffs."