Before the laughter starts, consider that the Penguins play in an arena even older than Nassau Coliseum and depend on the NHL draft instead of big-ticket free agent items to compete. Also consider that both teams fired coaches and turned to unproven candidates despite enjoying success with the veteran behind the bench.

But that is where the similarities end, mainly because the Penguins still employ Sidney Crosby and Evegeni Malkin and the Islanders have no young forwards anywhere need All-Star status.  Yet Pittsburgh made a big splash yesterday, firing Michel Therrien nearly eight months after he guided the Pens to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Dan Bylsma was named the interim coach and he will make his NHL debut this afternoon against the Isles. The Islanders made a similar move in the summer, let go of Ted Nolan last season and replaced him with former AHL coach Scott Gordon, who has gone from successful minor league coach to a man struggling to get wins from a young and injury depleted lineup.

The 38-year-old Bylsma’s last season as a player came right before the lockout. A nine-year NHL veteran, Bylsma (pronounced BYLE-smuh) served as a right winger with Los Angeles and Anaheim from 1995-2004. He appeared in 429 NHL regular season games and also played in the 2003 Stanley Cup Final with Anaheim.

Ray Shero, the Penguins general manager and executive vice president, said in a statement the move was designed to give his team a spark. Despite claiming perennial MVP candidates in Malkin and Crosby, the Penguins enter the matinee five points behind the eighth-place Sabres for the Eastern Conference’s final playoff berth.

“We believe we need a change in direction and, with 25 games remaining in the regular season, our goal remains to finish strong and qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs,” Shero said. “Dan Bylsma is one of the bright young coaches in the game and has done an exceptional job as the head coach in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season.”

Therrien’s dismissal comes after the Hurricanes fired Peter Laviolette despite the coach leading Carolina to a championship in 2006. Two coaches who have led clubs to the final round the past three seasons are now unemployed, showing the quick hook owners and front office executives have in trying to salvage a struggling team.

“I’m a passionate person and energetic person,” Bylsma said to reporters. “I believe you need commitment, passion and a high energy level. That’s how I approach life. We have a great challenge that we should enjoy. We should bring all that energy to the rink (Monday).

Pittsburgh’s opponent today also has endured a rotating system of coaches. Laviolette 77-62-19-6 and led the Islanders to the playoffs twice in his two seasons in Uniondale. Those postseason appearances came after a seven-year drought, though the Isles still fired him along with Steve Stirling, interim coach Brad Shaw and Nolan. From 2001-08, all four of those Islander coaches posted a winning percentage of .500 or better and still was shown the exit.

Gordon has coaxed the Islanders still competitive in games. But the team claims an NHL-low 38 points with a 16-33-6 record. Despite the axing of previous coaches with far superior records, general manager Garth Snow insists Gordon’s job is safe and that the Isles will have patience with its self-described youth movement. The Islanders are in contention for getting the No. 1 overall draft pick and will look to snap a five-game losing streak when the puck is dropped at 2 p.m.

This is just the way the sports business goes these days as Therrien took the fall for the struggling Pittsburgh Penguins, after leading his team to the Stanley Cup finals last season.

“I owe it to the franchise and the organization to take the steps necessary that I think are best, and that’s what led me to do what I did,” Pittsburgh general manager Ray Shero said about the change.

Therrien will be replaced by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coach Dan Bylsma and it will be his job to turn around the Penguins.

The Pens are in worse shape than the Rangers. They currently sit tenth in the conference with 59 points with no sign of pepping up. But the Rangers are in a free-fall, with 66 points and sixth in the conference. The Blueshirts have just one win in the last eight games and some of the losses have been brutal.

Yet, none are as bad as yesterday’s 5-2 drubbing by the Philadelphia Flyers, where the Rangers let in a 5-on-3 shorthanded goal in the second period. The team is looking lost, and Renney may be the next coach to get the ax if something doesn’t turn around quickly.

“I take full responsibility for where this team is right now,” Renney said. “It comes with the position so my job is to correct this, get us winning, and getting us feeling better about ourselves.”

Renney is just trying to be captain of the ship and it’s not his fault that the personnel on the club have not jelled. This past summer it was general manager Glen Sather who gave the foolish contract to Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival has shown he’s not a $5 million a year player.

And when they signed Scott Gomez and Chris Drury in 2007, it was to have them play with front-line wings like Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan. As we have seen this season, neither can step up with the spotlight shine upon them.

Also, can you blame Renney for Sather signing so many back-end forwards? Dan Fritche was a bust and Aaron Voros has not become Sean Avery, who now may be back in a few weeks. Patrick Rissmiller was so bad that no team wanted him on waivers, although the cost would be minimal.

Frankly, the only reason why the team has a sixth place standing is the play of Henrik Lundqvist, who has been hung out to dry too many times by his defense.

Even the Ranger players don’t want to see their coach fall. “They’re not the ones on the ice,” Drury said of Sather and Renney. “We put the jerseys on. They give us guidelines on what our system is on what the scouring report is on what the game plan is [but] we’ve got to execute it. Clearly, a 5-2 loss at home we’re not executing.”

So you can’t blame Renney, but unfortunately he may not get a chance to turn it around. Although unfair, a coaching change may have to take place, with assistant general manager Jim Schoenfeld possibly taking the bench. A new voice may make the team respond in a positive way. It has worked in the past for a number of clubs, including the Mets last summer when Jerry Manuel took over for Willie Randolph.

It’s unfortunately if Renney does take the fall. He has done a tremendous job with the Rangers over the past three seasons and now – as this space has advocated in the past – deserves to have a chance to turn around the team.

But if Therrien’s firing teaches us anything, it’s that every coach is one step away from the unemployment line.