If only they had done this a little bit earlier…
The Islanders, officially eliminated on Saturday night after Toronto’s 5-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins, finished the season with their sixth consecutive win, a 3-1 drubbing of the playoff-bound Senators.
As many will proclaim, it was too little, too late for a team that spent the start of the season in the cellar of the Eastern Conference. But that brings us to an important point: this team never quit, and responded quite well to Doug Weight, their interim head coach.
Arthur Staple, the team’s longtime beat writer for Newsday, tabs the Isles’ impending coaching decision — to retain Weight or not to retain Weight — as one of the most important things to watch this coming offseason.