Final matchups set for playoffs
A final shot for the final spot on the final day.
The New York Islanders in, the Toronto Maple Leafs out.
Let the playoffs begin.
New York secured the last open postseason berth Sunday night with a thrilling 3-2 shootout victory over the New Jersey Devils.
That capped a week in which the Islanders won their final four games and leapfrogged idle Toronto and Montreal, one day after the Maple Leafs saved their season, as well as New York’s, with a win that eliminated the Canadiens.
The Islanders blew a 2-0 lead in the final 4:13 of regulation on two goals by John Madden, the latter scored with 0.9 seconds left. They survived overtime and moved on when third-string goalie Wade Dubielewicz poke-checked the puck away from Sergei Brylin to end the shootout.
Not a bad way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the “Easter Epic,” a four-overtime victory against Washington in Game 7 of the first-round playoff series that ended on Pat LaFontaine’s goal.
Now they will face the top-seeded Buffalo Sabres, the Presidents’ Trophy winners who closed their season Sunday in less dramatic fashion, with a meaningless loss to Philadelphia – the team with the league’s worst record (22-48-12).
Detroit tied Buffalo with an NHL-high 113 points, but Buffalo secured home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs by winning 53 games – three more than the Red Wings.
The Devils will take on the seventh-seeded Tampa Bay Lightning, and No. 4 Ottawa will open at home against scoring champion Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The other series in the East features the Southeast Division champion Atlanta Thrashers, in the first playoff appearance of their seven seasons, taking on the New York Rangers.
For the third time, and first since the Rangers won the 1994 Stanley Cup title, all three New York metropolitan teams reached the postseason in the same year.
Out West, Detroit will face No. 8 Calgary, which clinched its spot Saturday night when the Colorado Avalanche lost to Nashville.
Roberto Luongo and the third-seeded Canucks will gear up for a series against the Dallas Stars; the No. 2 Anaheim Ducks will take on No. 7 Minnesota; and the fourth-seeded Nashville Predators are set to face the fifth-seeded San Jose Sharks.
Crosby became the youngest scoring champion in league history when the 19-year-old Penguins phenom took the Art Ross Trophy with 120 points – doing it with 36 goals and 84 assists.
San Jose’s Joe Thornton, the league MVP a year ago when he won the scoring title with 125 points, finished six shy of Crosby’s total.
On the ice
Stars 3, Blackhawks 2: At Dallas, Mike Modano scored his 507th career goal with 3:49 left to extend his record for U.S.-born players and the Stars beat Chicago.
With the game even at 2 and the teams 4 on 4, Modano skated to the net along the right side and beat Blackhawks goalie Nikolai Khabibulin after a centering pass from Philippe Boucher for Modano’s 22nd goal of the season.
Flyers 4, Sabres 3: At Philadelphia, Mike Knuble and Mike Richards scored third-period goals to rally the Flyers to a win over Buffalo .
Buffalo finished with a franchise record for wins (53-22-7) and tied the 1974-75 team’s record of 113 points.
Philadelphia finished with the most losses and fewest points in its 40-year history (22-48-12; 56 points)
Coyotes 3, Canucks 1: At Glendale, Ariz., Derek Morris scored the go-ahead goal three seconds into a power play at 12:12 of the first period to help Phoenix beat Vancouver.
Jeremy Roenick added what might be his final NHL goal, an empty-netter for Phoenix, with 21.2 seconds to play.
Roenick and goalie Curtis Joseph both drew standing ovations from the crowd after the final goal.
Avalanche 6, Flames 3: At Denver, Joe Sakic scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, giving him 100 points for the first time since 2001 and leading Colorado past Calgary in a game rendered meaningless by the Avalanche’s loss 24 hours earlier.
It was the first time in the Avalanche’s 11 seasons in Denver that the team played a game with the playoffs out of their grasp.