It takes a special kind of hockey player to be a goaltender.

Not everyone is hard-wired to hold down a job where putting one's body in front of solid objects moving at high rates of speed isn't just an occupational hazard but the whole idea.

And for a backup goalie like Brent Johnson, who is scheduled to make his fifth start of the season when the Penguins face the New York Islanders at 2:08 p.m. today at Nassau Coliseum, that might be the easy part.

Demanding as it is to stop pucks at this level, doing it well when a goalie gets one chance every couple of weeks greatly compounds the challenge.

Johnson's start against the Islanders will be his first since a 6-5 overtime victory against Boston 13 days ago. In the interim, his work has been limited to a series of practices and a bit under 13 minutes of mop-up duty in a 6-2 loss Nov. 19 in Ottawa.

His ability to keep a decent edge on his game -- Johnson's 3-1 record, 3.01 goals-against average and .897 save percentage speak to the caliber of his work -- while spending so many games on a folding chair in the dressing-room runway has not gone unnoticed by his teammates.

Defenseman Brooks Orpik, for example, recently missed four games because of what is believed to be a knee injury and needed the better part of a week to feel back in sync.

"I was only out nine or 10 days, and it felt like you're out a month, in terms of your timing," he said. "Your conditioning's fine, but [getting acclimated to] the actual speed of the game is tough.

"Practice is practice. It's impossible to simulate the speed of the game in practices."

Goalies don't usually have to worry about teammates taking head-high slap shots or bulldozing them in the crease during workouts, either, so even the most up-tempo practice does not truly re-create game conditions.

Still, Johnson is 32 and has appeared in 253 NHL games, so he has learned how to maximize his effectiveness when cast in a supporting role. Give him a day's notice when he is going to start so that he can go through his preparation routine, and he is content.

Then again, he probably would not become flustered if he had five minutes' notice after sitting out for three months. While some goalies are high-strung, Johnson is the opposite, with a calm demeanor and engaging personality that earned him quick acceptance and respect from his teammates.

"He's a great guy around the team," forward Max Talbot said.

It helps that Johnson, who joined the Penguins as a free agent from Washington this summer, has done a pretty good job of stopping pucks, too, even when his teammates haven't been sharp in front of him.

"He's probably one of the best backup goalies in the league," Talbot said. "He could be a [regular], for sure. He's been playing really well in games."

Being 6 feet 3 and having a pretty good glove hand is a big part of that. Preparation plays a part, too, although Johnson said he does not overdo it, in that regard.

Goaltending coach Gilles Meloche gave him a DVD of that 6-5 victory against Boston to look at, and Johnson planned to use it as an instructional video of sorts.

"I'll just go through some of the things I would have liked to have done better, and gotten more consistent on," Johnson said.

There will be a little more video work today, when the coaching staff will brief the players on the Islanders' tendencies, the structure and strategy of their power play, and other technical matters.

Johnson will take it all in but guard against information overload because he believes that over-thinking while getting ready to play is counter-productive. Better, he figures, to just enter each game with the same basic attitude.

"You have to have the same mind-set every game you play," he said. "Go out there and do your best to help the team win."

That does not change, he added, regardless of whether his start comes at Mellon Arena or somewhere on the road.

"It doesn't matter," Johnson said. "Do my job. The [Boston] game at home was a bit of a barn-burner at both ends.

"Goals were going in, and a lot of shots were being taken, but we'll take the [victory] any way we can get it. And [today] is no different."

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