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The New York Rangers clinched a berth in National Hockey League playoffs tonight. Once derided as an everybody gets in tournament, the competition has gotten stiffer. Heck, in the days of the Wales and Campbell Conferences, when 16 out of 21 teams in the league made the tourney, it was everybody who shows up gets in. Now expansion has increased the field to 30 teams, but no new playoff slots have been added. It is still only the top eight teams in each conference that qualify.

This has created a mad scramble in Gary Bettman's unimaginatively monikered Eastern Conference, with a mere two games to go five teams are still fighting over four slots. Locally, the Carolina Hurricanes have been the third seed much of the season, but could slide all the way to out, if they are caught by the magical Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. All of this chaos and tumult is why it is terrific that the Rangers are safely in the post-season.

And what better way for the Rangers to qualify than with a shutout win over their old rivals the New York Islanders. It is such a pity the Islanders are not going to make the playoffs. It was good news to see the Rangers aging star, Jaromir Jagr lit the lamp twice. He is going to finish this season with the lowest offensive output of his career. If the Rangers are to go anywhere in the playoffs, they have to get at least some contribution from Jagr.

It was also nice for Rangers fans to see goaltender Henrik Lundqvist post a shutout. He is the real key to the Rangers playoff chances. A Olympic gold medal winning goalie, Lundquist can carry the team. It was especially nice for Lundquist to get a shutout over the Islanders, who didn't even play their own $67 million goalie Rick DePietro. Dipietro has struggled severely to live up to the ludicrous fifteen year contract the Islanders gave him. He is going to finish the year under .500. His back-up is going to have a better goals against average and a better save percentage.

For one night at least in New York hockey, all is well. The Rangers roll into the playoffs and the Islanders slink into the off-season. Now if only somebody could beat the Devils in the first round...

Labels: hockey, sports