Neil Best
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, then returned in 1985. His SportsWatch column debuted on Sept.
The hot topic among New York-area hockey mavens Thursday night was whether the winner of the Islanders-Rangers game might actually be the loser, and vice versa.
This was because of the strategic calculus of playoff pairings, one theory being that it might be better to be the top wild card than to finish third in the Metropolitan Division, thus avoiding the Penguins and Capitals in the first two rounds.
Crossing over to the Atlantic Division, starting with the Panthers, looked more manageable.