We’ll have to wait a few more days to see if the long-awaited match-up happens.
Saturday afternoon felt like a Stanley Cup playoff game with great goaltending, high-pressure shots, penalty shots, and overtime. It’s too bad one team was rewarded with a win on a stupid gimmick called a shootout while the other team could likely lose its playoff spot. But that’s what happened Saturday afternoon when the Rangers survived with a 3-2 victory over the Islanders at Madison Square Garden.
If there’s justice, the Islanders would play the Rangers in the first round of the playoffs and then beat them in a hard-fought seven-game series. It has been 30 years since both teams met in the playoffs, and it would be fitting and poetic if the Islanders could end the Rangers’ 30-year Stanley Cup drought.
For one thing, the Islanders match up much better against them than the speedy Carolina Hurricanes. For another thing, the Rangers are an overrated team. They are especially beatable if you can make them play a low-scoring game because that’s when they struggle, not being a team that grinds it out well.
The Rangers imploded against the Devils last year, blowing a 2-0 series lead and falling apart in Game 7. So, there will be pressure for the Rangers to atone for last year, and we know they’re not good at that. They always underachieve in the playoffs. The Islanders should embrace playing them.
Besides, the Islanders should have won Saturday’s game. The tougher and stronger team, NYI would likely have won had the game gone to sudden death. The Islanders may not have skilled players like the Rangers do, but they have what the Rangers lack: “smarts.”
So now we have to hope that the two teams will meet in the playoffs. But right now, it’s hard to see that happening. The Islanders could lose two straight and miss the playoffs or lose a game and then get the wild-card spot.
With the topsy-turvy race, anything could happen between now and Wednesday night. Plus, the Rangers could take the last game of the season and win the Presidents Trophy, making them the #1 seed.
An awful lot has to go right for the two to meet, but if the hockey gods want it to happen, then it will. Thirty years is a very long time.
