Normally a meeting between the New York Islanders and their city rivals the Rangers is fodder for all kinds of emotion, sibling rivalry, bragging rights.
Tonight at Madison Square Garden those aspects remain — and the Isles are on a 6-0-1 run against their lesser siblings — but the stakes are much greater: The Rangers’ playoff position is all but mathematically assured, and there is very little room for them to increase their position -- which would actually draw a tough first-round matchup — or fall into the second wild card spot.
The Smurfs are six points behind Columbus (who has two games in hand) for a non-wild card spot, and 13 points ahead of Toronto, which occupies the second wild card spot.