BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Mathematical elimination arrived on Monday night and it was Jack Capuano and his Panthers who closed the door on the Islanders' 2017-18 season.



Capuano, Florida's associate coach, had 5 1/2 proper seasons behind the Isles bench, putting aside 2010-11, when he took over for Scott Gordon in November of that season with the team basically eliminated already at 4-10-3.



The Islanders made the playoffs three times in the six years Capuano started a season as coach. That's not great, but the Isles have gotten demonstrably worse this season without him, so perhaps it was fitting that he and Bob Boughner, the Panthers head coach, were on hand for Monday's 3-0 win that ended the Isles season.



— “You see 3-0 and you think it's abysmal, but it's not. We battled hard.”



That was Doug Weight after Monday's game. The details of the latest loss are inconsequential unless you want to see John Tavares throwing hits after a...