Islanders 3, Devils 2 (SO)

So, there it is. The Islanders are in, the Maple Leafs are out, the Devils don't change their position, and Brodeur doesn't pick up any more wins. But that's primarly because he didn't play.

Brodeur was rested on the final game of the year in favor of Scott Clemmensen. Clemmy actually played pretty well, but going into the shootout, you didn't feel very good with such an unproven guy out there, and sure enough, he didn't come through. Some guy named Doublewide, who is the 3rd-string goale for the Islanders, won the game and sent them into the playoffs. Yeah, that's right. Dublewizthtchshjz won the game. Why in the world, if this game meant so much to the Islanders, would they start him? Apparently America's Goalie was still hurt and Dunham inspired no confidence. Whatever. It worked. The Islanders were up 2-0 late, but the Devils got 2 very late goals to send it to overtime. Nothing worked there, so it was a shootout. And you know what happens from there.

The Devils didn't need to win, so they didn't. Not a big deal. It would have been nice to end the season with a win, especially at home where the Devils have struggled recently. It's just very annoying because I want to keep the Atlantic Division rivals out of the playoffs as much as possible, and 4 of the 5 teams are in the playoffs. That's a lot. The Flyers had no chance, being the worst team in the league. But the Penguins, Rangers, and Islanders are in. The weird thing is that no team is playing each other. They are #2, #4, #6, and #8. Very, very odd. Oh well. I hope everyone loses but the Devils, that's for sure.

Which brings me up to my next point. Will the Devils win? They play the Tampa Bay Lightning for sure now. It's settled. The Devils haven't been good at home and haven't been good vs. the Lightning. Anything can change come playoff time, and I would expect to see different results against the team. But they are a threat to score at any time. They are a good team. This may very well be the hardest test the Devils may face. If they play the winner of Ottawa/Pittsburgh, they could beat either team. Then they could beat Buffalo, assuming they come out of things. Tampa Bay might be the hardest individual matchup, and that's scary. We'll see how things go. It's playoff time now!

GO DEVILS!!