Time to get cranking

OK, hockey fans.

Now's the real time of year. The final playoff push and then the Stanley Cup playoffs. The hockey has been pretty intense the past week, especially in the Eastern Conference, where six teams are vying for two playoff positions.

Right now, the locks are: Devils, Penguins, Sabres, Senators, Thrashers and Lightning.

Then you have: Islanders, Rangers, Hurricanes, Toronto, Montreal and Boston fighting for the last two spots. Islanders have 78 points and 14 games left, the Rangers and Hurricanes are at 76 points (but Rangers have a game in hand and one less loss, so they're technically ahead in the tiebreak position) while Boston, the bottom of the six teams, has 71 points. Like I said, quite a scramble.

The Western Conference picture is much clearer. Barring unforeseen collapses, the playoff teams are set: Nashville, Detroit, Vancouver, Minnesota, Calgary, Anaheim, San Jose and Dallas. Only Colorado would seem to have a shot left of anyone else, and they're trailing Calgary, the eighth-place team, by 8 points. Tip of the cap to St. Louis Blues, who are now at .500 for the season, remarkable comeback from awful start and staying power despite salary dumps at trade deadline. But they are out of playoff picture.

Final thought: Islanders Chris Simon suspended 25 games for assault on Ryan Hollweg of Rangers. If you haven't seen the video, you can find it on ESPN's Web site. Basically, Simon got checked, didn't like it and took about 10 seconds to find his man and use a two hander to the neck/face. In the real world, that's called assault with a deadly weapon. Premeditated.

Good riddance.