Rick DiPietro Out 4-6 Weeks After Fight

February 4 2011 Last updated at 02:16 PM ET

Rick DiPietro's promising career has been destroyed by injuries to this point. After he was dropped by one Brent Johnson left hook on Wednesday in a rare goalie fight, one of the concerns was whether or not the Islanders goaltender suffered another injury. As it turns out, he did, and it's going to put him on the shelf for 4-6 weeks.

The Islanders announced on Friday that DiPietro will be out of the lineup with facial fractures and swelling in his knee after his fight at the end of Wednesday's 3-0 loss in Pittsburgh.

It all started when DiPietro clipped Penguins forward Matt Cooke with less than 20 seconds to play, leading to a small skirmish in the corner between the skaters. At that point, Johnson and DiPietro met each other near the Islanders blue line resulting in Johnson's one-punch knockdown.

DiPietro has had a history of concussions in his career, as well as a number of other injuries that have significantly limited his playing time. Since the start of the 2008-09 season, for example, he's appeared in just 33 games, 21 of which have been this season.

He's still signed through the 2020-21 season with an average salary cap hit of $4.5 million per year.

Source: http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2011/02/04/rick-dipietro-out-4-6-weeks-after-fight/

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