Around the NHL

OK, so the previous post is the one that really matters for tonight, but as you know, the standings are a quagmire, and there are always other NHL games waiting to make our lives worse. Here are the relevant standings as of this afternoon:

5. Montréal, 79 pts, 15 GR
6. Pittsburgh, 78 pts, 14 GR
7. Carolina, 78 pts, 13 GR
8. Florida, 77 pts, 15 GR
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9. NEW YORK RANGERS, 76 pts, 15 GR
10. Buffalo, 73 pts, 15 GR

Yeeeeah. There will be movement tonight. Let's hope it's positive for us. Besides our visit to the home of Country Music Television, there's a lot of relevant action around the conference tonight:

Panthers at Buffalo, 7:00
Penguins at Columbus, 7:00
Islanders at Montréal, 7:30
Hurricanes at Dallas, 8:30

You did that math right. All 6 teams in this picture are in action tonight. Interestingly, but unimportantly, that means everyone will have the same number of games in hand on each other tomorrow afternoon as they do right now.

The Blue Jackets are trying to stay on top of the Western bubble and make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. They have a lot to prove. The Penguins....have to lose again eventually, right? Come on!! Rick Nash!! Antoine Vermette!! R.J. Umberger!! Come on!!!

The Islanders...yeah. Well. I guess stranger things have happened.

'Canes-Stars is going to be a great hockey game. If our boys weren't in action tonight, I'd probably stay home and watch this one. Both teams are, if such a thing can be said to exist, in the middles of their respective bubbles. Both teams are capable of playing great hockey but also have yet to comfortably establish themselves. Both have totally respectable probable future hall-of-famers who don't have that many more runs left in them. I'm rooting for the team with Henrik Lundqvist's twin brother on it.

And, of course, in Panthers-Sabres, we have another "please-don't-go-to-overtime" situation. I know that conventional wisdom and previous patterns would lead you to believe that I'm going for the Cats in this one. After all, I've been looking for the Sabres to drop a couple and drop out, and I've said that in cases like these you root for the guys that are higher up, so the lower guys can stay low and we can top them. However, I have this feeling that Buffalo's not gonna make it anyway, and if they can take a couple of points from Florida on their way down, I'm certainly not complaning. So, I think I'd be happy if the Sabres won this one. Really, though, as usual, I'm rooting for whoever is winning with 10 minutes left in the third.

Let's Go Rangers! (and Jackets, and Islanders (ew), and Stars...)