EWB’s Twisted Wrister (A Look At The Hockey Teams In NYS)

So, the National Hockey League has finished its regular season and it’s now time to check out the first round match ups and who from the Empire State made it in the post season. The playoff runs begins on Wednesday, but we won’t see neither of the teams from the metro area until a day or two later.

On Thursday it’s top seed New York Rangers going up against the No. 8 seed Ottawa Senators, with the first game being played at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers finished on top of the Eastern Conference with a 51-24-7 record for 109 points in all, second best in all of the NHL, and outdistancing the Pittsburgh Penguins by a single point in the East. On the World Leader in Sports there is the preview of the best of seven series.

[For more information on the New York Rangers check out FanSided’s Blue Line Station blog]

On Friday it’s the No. 6 seed New Jersey Devils going against the No. 3 seed Florida Panthers, with the first game being played in the sunshine state. The Devils were 48-28-6 for a total of 102 points in the Eastern Conference, was fourth best, tied with the Boston Bruins. Here is a good article from ESPN previewing the series.

[For more information on the New Jersey Devils check out FanSided’s Pucks and Pitchforks blog]

For the Islanders it’s an early vacation and they will now wait for the draft and free agency to see what they can muster up in order to be more competitive for the future. In all the Isles were 34-37-11 for a total of 79 points, second to last in the Eastern Conference. On the other hand it was just 13 points behind the last playoff squad, and that means that it is not going to take a complete overhaul in order to make this team ready for the post season next season.

[For more information on the New York Islanders check out FanSided’s Eyes on Isles blog]