PLAYOFFS?!?!?

Here is the playoff scenario as spelled out by Greg Logan in his blog for Newsday:

Here's the simple scenario for elimination: No matter what the Rangers do against Toronto tonight, the Islanders will be eliminated from Stanley Cup contention if they lose to the Rangers Tuesday night at the Coliseum and Montreal wins at home over Boston.

That combination of results would give the Rangers 91 points (or more if they get points against the Leafs tonight) and would give the eighth-place Canadiens 90 points. Tampa Bay, the other one of three teams currently in playoff position that can be caught by the Islanders, already has 90 points. With three games left, the best the Islanders could do is 90 points, and they would lose the tiebreaker by virtue of having fewer wins.

At the moment, the Islanders still can reach 92 points if they win their four remaining games. But the tiebreaker situation means they only would qualify if the ninth-place team had 91 points or less.

The bottom line is this: the DiPietro injury pretty much sealed the fate for the Islanders this season. Without Ricky in net, the team looks disorganized on defense--and none of that is helped by the injuries to Gervais; Martinek; Meyer; etc. Allan Rourke and Drew Fata did what they could and were decent when pressed into duty. But, unfortunately, they both were also as advertised. Sean Hill and Brendan Witt and Tom Poti were steady all season long but no one can force any of them out in the ice to cover for the injuries because they were logging so many minutes already. What? We expected them to go 40 minutes a game?

Where was the tipping point? I have to think that it is easy to point to Ricky's collision with Steve Begin but overall, it is difficult not to say that the season came unraveled after The Incident We Swore We Would Not Write About. Chris Simon brought an element to the team that was easiest to identify when it wasn't there any more. It's like Roy said about Pam earlier this season on "The Office": "You know that song by Cinderella? 'You Don't What You've Got 'til it's Gone'?--and Simon's game dictated that no one could take liberties with the skill players on the Islanders. His reputation kept the opponents in line. Once the policeman wasn't around any more, the Islanders players and team missed that element that kept everyone honest.

"I don't believe in giving up until the last song is sung," coach Ted Nolan said after the Islanders' 5-2 loss to Ottawa Saturday night. (Another quote from Newsday.)

That's the kind of thing the coach has to say since there is a microscopic chance of squeezing into the playoffs. Outsiders can scoff all they want, but the NHL playoffs are not the birthright that they once were when there were only 21 teams and 16 made the Second Season. (ESPNBA take note: next time one of your Talking Hairdos rails against the NHL playoffs, please remember that the same percentage makes the NBA
playoffs too. Oh--and hockey players care about the Stanley Cup. I don't think a lot of NBA players even know who the hell Larry O'Brien is or that the trophy is even named after him!)

So, with a handful of games left to play, it is not too early to think about the offseason. It's been a darn good year to be an Islander fan. The Ryan Smyth trade proved that the Islander brass was willing to do whatever they needed to in an attempt to win. Plus, if nothing else comes of it, the trade made the Islanders relevant again. Our boys were talked up all over the place after the deal; increasing the team's visibility.

I expect that we will hear some news soon that the team is shutting down DiPietro for the season. My best guess is that the news will break tomorrow before the game vs. the Rangers.