The NY Islanders are back in the playoffs after a six year hiatus from being in contention for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The team lost 4-3 in the shootout against the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday, but clinched its fourth playoff berth in 18 years when the Winnipeg Jets lost in regulation to the Washington Capitals a few minutes later.
Back in 2006-07 the Islanders clinched their last playoff spot in the most dramatic way possible. With five games to go in the year, the team not only needed to win its final five, but also get some help from other teams on the scoreboard. The team had all the help it could get heading into its Sunday afternoon thriller against the New Jersey Devils, the final game of that season. The Islanders ran out to a 2-0 lead and wound up blowing it with less than a second to go in the game. The battle went all the way to the shootout where goaltender Wade Dubielewicz made his famous "poke check" to seal the Islanders' playoff-bound destiny. In the ensuing round, the team took on the top seeded Buffalo Sabres and fell in five games. After that year the team went into a self-imposed rebuild that hit rock bottom in 2008-09 when the Islanders, under new head coach Scott Gordon, finished as the worst team in the league. Fortunately, the poor season enabled them a chance to draft young phenom John Tavares; Tavares has led the team in scoring in each of his first three seasons and is slated to continue doing so this year.
The Islanders' clinch in 2012-13 was not as a dramatic as 2006-07's, but it actually exceeds it in some ways. On March 22, the Islanders had a record of 13-15-3 and looked primed to miss a run at the Stanley Cup for the sixth straight year. However, the team went on a tear and recorded an astonishing 11-1-3 mark in its ensuing 15 games; as of Tuesday's shootout loss to Carolina the Islanders have not lost in regulation in April.
The Islanders currently sit in sixth place with 54 points; they lead the NY Rangers and Ottawa Senators by two points and trail the Toronto Maple Leafs by only one game.
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