"Rick DiPietro had not won a game at Nassau Coliseum -- or anywhere else -- since Dec. 26, 2008, so it probably shouldn't have been a surprise that it took three periods, overtime and eight rounds of a shootout for him to get one last night.

DiPietro stopped Patrick Kaleta to secure a 3-2 win in the second game of his comeback from the knee surgeries that kept him sidelined for much of the past two years.

"I can't tell you how good this feels," DiPietro said after the Isles won the shootout 4-3, the decisive goal coming from Trent Hunter. "It's satisfying, but there's still a lot of work to be done. You can't get complacent."

"It's a huge weight off his shoulders," Isles coach Scott Gordon said.

DiPietro made 31 saves in regulation, and the Isles got goals from John Tavares (his first in nine games) and Sean Bergenheim before coughing up a 2-0 lead.

"I was [ticked] about that," DiPietro said. "I pride myself on closing games out.""