A few weeks ago we marveled at the Islanders' literally flatlining playoff chances, calculated at 0.3%. Today, after a four-game win streak that amounts to chump change, every fan who is not inebriated knows there is still no chance. But how much of no chance? 0.2%. Here's how the Atlantic is looking, per Sportsclubstats on Feb. 4. That's Pittsburgh in black, dropping to 29.3%.

That's the rest of the Atlantic soaring up there in the 90s. Dammit.

Chasing Ramo

Speaking of no playoff chances, the Isles' abuse of Karri Ramo drove another nail in the Lightning's illusions of postseason play. Ramo has been up with the club five times this season and didn't help his cause last night. But for the record, they say Mike Smith's tantrum after being pulled against the Flyers did not cause the injury that put Ramo in the net against the Islanders.

Lighthouse Hockey Manifesto

We've had a bump in new readers recently, so this is a good time for another statement of intent, which I'll repeat from time to time (sorry to the old readers who have already heard this spiel):

The ideal for Lighthouse Hockey is not for me to run it -- but for Islanders fans and hockey fans to run it while I keep the lights on. If you're new to SBN sites, they're set up in a way that makes community content creation easy. Those FanPosts to the right should ideally be populated by other fans' theories or memories (or references to their own blog) as much as mine -- and I can "promote" any of them to the front page in one click. Meanwhile, the FanShots are an easy way to post links, videos, any other item of interest. The game threads are a lawless place where things can truly get ridiculous and tap into your inner fan's id.

The idea is to build this place into a community intersection where fans, bloggers and message board posters can interject their thoughts and point out interesting coverage here and elsewhere. There is great content all over; I'm personally drawn to SBN tools as a great way to cross-comment on it all.

Lurkers are of course welcome -- I lurked for months at an SBN baseball site before signing up -- but don't be shy about creating an account (it takes 30 seconds) and adding to this site's direction. That account enables you to comment and create posts at any SBN site, for any team or sport. If you like to read but don't like to comment, thanks for reading -- and please forward this site to any fellow fans who like to "talk hockey" online.

That's not to say Lighthouse Hockey should look like this, or like this, or even this. It's to say that you can use these tools to make it look like one of those or anything else, depending on where users want to take it. The choice is yours.

Thanks for getting this far. I approve this message. No one has lower prices. Vote early and often.