An unlikely stopper has emerged late in this dead Islanders season, a defensive dynamo who in consecutive games has helped to lock down two of the NHL’s most lethal scorers.

Journeyman Wyatt Smith has made like legendary lawman Wyatt Earp in shutting down two of the fastest guns in the Eastern Conference, keeping Jaromir Jagr and Alexander Ovechkin off the scoresheet in consecutive games. Smith, deployed as a shadow against the two hottest sticks in hockey, was expected to see time opposite Jagr again last night in the eighth and final game of the season against the rival Rangers.

Thursday, Smith was greatly responsible for holding Jagr at 52 goals before No. 68 went on to set a new single-season Rangers record with his 53rd Saturday against Boston. Saturday, Smith was flashing a Selke-like ability to stay with Ovechkin, a rookie who was held scoreless and prohibited from notching his 100th point in a 5-0 Islanders win over the Capitals at the Coliseum.

“Just trying to do my part,” Smith said with a wide grin when asked if he was trying to make a run at the Selke Trophy, annually awarded to the top defensive forward.

Though he may not win any awards for his late-season effort, Smith has gone above and beyond what many consider to be his capabilities in going toe-to-toe with two offensively gifted foes.

Smith, 29, last scored an NHL goal Feb. 13, 2004. Over the course of his first season with the Islanders, the six-year veteran has emerged as a useful third- and fourth-line center, but had not been given this kind of high-profile responsibility until now. Signed as an unrestricted free agent last summer, Smith played in his 38th game of the year last night and had been an unlikely anchor for a young and inexperienced team in its own end.

“It was a real good effort defensively,” Brad Shaw said of Smith’s blanketing of Ovechkin and Jagr.

evan.grossman@nypost.com