My band had a gig last night, so I didn't even get home and start watching the game until like 12:30. What a waste of staying up until 3 in the morning! Man, that was depressing.
First of all, what are the chances you give up three goals in the first period off of deflections off of your own men in front of the net? 'Cause that was one off of Girardi's skate, one off of Staal's shoulder, and one off of Anisimov's stick. On the first one, I thought, "you know, at least Girardi is making sure there aren't any Ducks in front of the net to deflect pucks in." In general, I guess that's a good sign? The Staal one was weird, but by the Anismov deflection, it was pretty clear that the Ducks were also doing something right. Say, that Bobby Ryan feller is pretty good at the hockey.
You know what the worst part is? Well, no, the worst part is obviously the standings. Of course, the Thrashers-'Canes game went to OT last night. And, as you know, that means Gary Bettman rewards both teams for "keeping the game exciting" by making their game worth more points than a normal, regulation game. So, that sucks. But you know what the second-worst part is? Giving a win to Dan "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems" Ellis! Fuck Dan Ellis! In our long-standing tradition of making goalies look better than they are, we let Dan Ellis make the most saves he's made so far in a game with Anaheim! And he's a jerk-butt!
Anyway, no real constructive comments here. We're a young team, we gotta learn to win games like these, and we will with time, if we stick to the plan. Meanwhile, as far as this season is concerned, things are looking grim. Here are the standings as of this morning:
7. NEW YORK RANGERS - 74 pts, 13 GR
8. Buffalo - 72 pts, 16 GR
--------------------
9. Carolina - 72 pts, 15 GR
10. Toronto - 68 pts, 15 GR
11. Atlanta - 67 pts, 15 GR
12. New Jersey - 64 pts, 16 GR
It's that "GR" thing you should be looking at. We've played 3 more games than Buffalo and the Devils, and 2 more games than everyone else behind us. So, theoretically, if we were to sit still and let everyone play their games-in-hand, and they all won those games-in-hand, the standings would look a little bit more like this:
7. Buffalo - 78 pts
8. Carolina - 76 pts
--------------------
9. NEW YORK RANGERS - 74 pts
10. Toronto - 72 pts
11. Atlanta - 71 pts
12. New Jersey - 70 pts
That's us, on the outside, looking in. Not too far behind, but outside the playoff picture nonetheless. At that point, we'd all be looking at 13 games to go. Time to catch Carolina and possibly also Buffalo, but we're really going to have to start to get hot down the stretch here. Buffalo, Carolina, Toronto, and New Jersey all have, and if we keep playing this way-under-.500 hockey, we could find ourselves in, like, 11th by the end of the season. Just sayin', that 7th-place thing is kind of a lie.
Anyway, we're off again until Saturday night at the Shark Tank. Meanwhile, tonight, the Sabres are in Boston and the Flyers are in Toronto. If Philly and the Bruins can do us some (regulation-time) favors, the pressure lessens a little. Late season playoff push: here we go again!
Showing posts with label Let's Go Bruins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Let's Go Bruins. Show all posts
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
You never call, you never write...
Oh, wait, that's me. I'm back from traveling! And I'm getting on another plane to leave again tonight!
Since I left, we lost some games, and we won some games. I didn't see the Bruins game on Saturday, but it seems like I missed very little. I saw the loss to the 'Canes and the win over the Habs. We can't feel too terrible about these. The Bruins are the best team in the East, and the 'Canes have cold forgotten how to lose games. Other teams didn't do us favors, then they did. We can't worry about that, because we can only win our games. Also, the Penguins are SUCH DICKS that they didn't even beat Florida for us. SUCH DICKS.
We've been playing...decent hockey. I feel like last night's victory had a lot to do with a very jumpy Carey Price. We're crashing the net...more...but not enough. We definitely looked good in the second and third periods, but not exceptional, and we looked awful in the first. The point is that I'm very happy with the points, and we didn't play bad hockey, but if Carey Price were, say, Marty Biron, we might have lost this game 2-1. Just sayin'.
Sean Avery is playing fantastic hockey, despite the fact that his probationary period still doesn't seem to be over. Naslund seems to have stepped up his game, at least for this last one. Antropov continues to be huge. Oh! And Rozsival's back! And...he looks exactly as confused as he did when he left.
At the end of this last hiatus I seem to have taken, here's where our (now significantly diminished) standings update...stands...:
7. Montréal, 92 pts, 2 GR
8. NEW YORK RANGERS, 91 pts, 2 GR
-------------------------
9. Florida, 89 pts, 2 GR
10. Buffalo, 85 pts, 3 GR
Between now and this weekend's finale, the Sabres have to play both the 'Canes and the Bruins. Let's assume that they're not beating both (and the Leafs tonight). That puts us somewhere between 7th and 9th. 9th is out. 8th plays the Bruins round 1. 7th plays the Devils or Caps, most likely the Caps (unless the Caps lose to both the Lightning and the Panthers AND the Devils beat both the Senators and the 'Canes - unlikely).
So, mathy times. If we win one of our two, we are in the playoffs. That's simple. If we win one more, we have more wins than the Panthers can get, and we have as many points as they can get. So we're in with one win. If we don't get that win, Florida or Buffalo can catch us by winning out (really, Florida can catch us with a win/OTL combo too).
As for catching 7th (which, as previously described, is hell of desirable - see also: Boston is a way better team than Washington), we'd need help. Montréal can clinch 7th by winning out the season. If they lose 1, we can clinch it by winning out, if they lose both, we can clinch it by winning 1, etc. This is obvious. In case of 3-point games, here are the tiebreakers:
We have 2 more wins than the Panthers. So if we end up tied, we will likely still have 1 more win than they do, which means we win the tiebreaker. If, however, we end up tied with them by losing both our games in overtime while they win both, we'll be tied in wins, and the tiebreaker will go to the season series, which the Panthers have won.
If we somehow end up tied with Buffalo (they win out, we lose out), we will also end up tied with them in wins. The tiebreaker will go to the season series, which the Sabres have won (this is why they are still in contention).
We are tied with the Canadiens in wins. So, if we end up tied with them in points because they lost in OT a game that we won, we will win the tiebreaker by having the extra win. However, if we end up tied because we lost in OT a game that they lost in regulation, we stay tied in wins, and the tiebreaker will go to the season series, which, as you have no doubt guessed if you're still reading this and good at pattern recognition, the Canadiens have won.
So, what are the chances of these teams doing these various things? Let's look forward. As well you know, our season comes down to a home-and-home against the Flyers, Thursday night at 7 at the Garden, and Sunday night at 5 in Philly. We've already covered the Sabres. Meanwhile, what will the Panthers and Canadiens be doing? Florida is in Atlanta tomorrow night at 7, then home against the Caps Saturday night at 7. Montréal is in Boston tomorrow night at 7, then home against the Pens Saturday night at 7.
This is not so bad for us. It lets us just concentrate on beating the Flyers. If we can beat them in both games, we make the playoffs and have a good chance at 7th. If we can beat them in one game, we make the playoffs and have a mediocre chance at 7th. If we can't win at all, we have a poor chance at the playoffs and no chance at 7th. I know I've described "season-defining moments" before, but....yeah.
Since I left, we lost some games, and we won some games. I didn't see the Bruins game on Saturday, but it seems like I missed very little. I saw the loss to the 'Canes and the win over the Habs. We can't feel too terrible about these. The Bruins are the best team in the East, and the 'Canes have cold forgotten how to lose games. Other teams didn't do us favors, then they did. We can't worry about that, because we can only win our games. Also, the Penguins are SUCH DICKS that they didn't even beat Florida for us. SUCH DICKS.
We've been playing...decent hockey. I feel like last night's victory had a lot to do with a very jumpy Carey Price. We're crashing the net...more...but not enough. We definitely looked good in the second and third periods, but not exceptional, and we looked awful in the first. The point is that I'm very happy with the points, and we didn't play bad hockey, but if Carey Price were, say, Marty Biron, we might have lost this game 2-1. Just sayin'.
Sean Avery is playing fantastic hockey, despite the fact that his probationary period still doesn't seem to be over. Naslund seems to have stepped up his game, at least for this last one. Antropov continues to be huge. Oh! And Rozsival's back! And...he looks exactly as confused as he did when he left.
At the end of this last hiatus I seem to have taken, here's where our (now significantly diminished) standings update...stands...:
7. Montréal, 92 pts, 2 GR
8. NEW YORK RANGERS, 91 pts, 2 GR
-------------------------
9. Florida, 89 pts, 2 GR
10. Buffalo, 85 pts, 3 GR
Between now and this weekend's finale, the Sabres have to play both the 'Canes and the Bruins. Let's assume that they're not beating both (and the Leafs tonight). That puts us somewhere between 7th and 9th. 9th is out. 8th plays the Bruins round 1. 7th plays the Devils or Caps, most likely the Caps (unless the Caps lose to both the Lightning and the Panthers AND the Devils beat both the Senators and the 'Canes - unlikely).
So, mathy times. If we win one of our two, we are in the playoffs. That's simple. If we win one more, we have more wins than the Panthers can get, and we have as many points as they can get. So we're in with one win. If we don't get that win, Florida or Buffalo can catch us by winning out (really, Florida can catch us with a win/OTL combo too).
As for catching 7th (which, as previously described, is hell of desirable - see also: Boston is a way better team than Washington), we'd need help. Montréal can clinch 7th by winning out the season. If they lose 1, we can clinch it by winning out, if they lose both, we can clinch it by winning 1, etc. This is obvious. In case of 3-point games, here are the tiebreakers:
We have 2 more wins than the Panthers. So if we end up tied, we will likely still have 1 more win than they do, which means we win the tiebreaker. If, however, we end up tied with them by losing both our games in overtime while they win both, we'll be tied in wins, and the tiebreaker will go to the season series, which the Panthers have won.
If we somehow end up tied with Buffalo (they win out, we lose out), we will also end up tied with them in wins. The tiebreaker will go to the season series, which the Sabres have won (this is why they are still in contention).
We are tied with the Canadiens in wins. So, if we end up tied with them in points because they lost in OT a game that we won, we will win the tiebreaker by having the extra win. However, if we end up tied because we lost in OT a game that they lost in regulation, we stay tied in wins, and the tiebreaker will go to the season series, which, as you have no doubt guessed if you're still reading this and good at pattern recognition, the Canadiens have won.
So, what are the chances of these teams doing these various things? Let's look forward. As well you know, our season comes down to a home-and-home against the Flyers, Thursday night at 7 at the Garden, and Sunday night at 5 in Philly. We've already covered the Sabres. Meanwhile, what will the Panthers and Canadiens be doing? Florida is in Atlanta tomorrow night at 7, then home against the Caps Saturday night at 7. Montréal is in Boston tomorrow night at 7, then home against the Pens Saturday night at 7.
This is not so bad for us. It lets us just concentrate on beating the Flyers. If we can beat them in both games, we make the playoffs and have a good chance at 7th. If we can beat them in one game, we make the playoffs and have a mediocre chance at 7th. If we can't win at all, we have a poor chance at the playoffs and no chance at 7th. I know I've described "season-defining moments" before, but....yeah.
Friday, March 13, 2009
This weekend
Oh man I am WAY too busy at work to be posting this right now. Fine. Weekend. We play the Flyers in Philly tomorrow at 1, and then back at the Garden Sunday at 12:30. I would really like those games to make this game into some kind of streak. Then I could even reasonably call this a "surge" without being full of shit. But it's going to be hard, the Flyers have consistently been very good all season. Remember when I said the Carolina game was going to be much harder than the Boston game? And then it was? Well, these are, too. And they're getting pretty vital. If there are pre-playoff playoffs, this home-and-home is they. I can't stress this enough, so I won't try. We've been getting better and better. We need another similar growth in skill between yesterday and tomorrow. That's not impossible. But it has to happen.
Meanwhile, a million other games are happening. All 5 other bubble teams are in action tomorrow, too (none against each other), and the Pens play again Sunday. Specifically:
Saturday
RANGERS AT FLYERS, 1:00
Senators at Penguins, 3:00
Thrashers at Sabres, 7:00
Devils at Canadiens, 7:00
Hurricanes at Capitals, 7:00
Lightning at Panthers, 7:00
Sunday
FLYERS AT RANGERS, 12:30
Bruins at Penguins, 3:00
Wow, I could watch 12 hours of hockey this weekend.
Hopefully, we can at least count on the Bruins (who will use their shitty play of the weekend on the Islanders Saturday) and Devils (Marty looking to tie Roy's all-time win record), and possibly count on the Capitals (if they get their shit together - who knows with that team). Then we'll be looking for help from the East's 12 through 14 spots. But hell, we got some help from number 15 last night, and "anything can happen in the New NHL," right??
Hah. Well. As I said yesterday, stranger things have happened. All 3 of them should be way closer games than Isles-Canadiens should have been, so there's always hope.
Most importantly, of course, are our two games. Let's concentrate on those and see how the cards fall out.
Let's Go Rangers!
Meanwhile, a million other games are happening. All 5 other bubble teams are in action tomorrow, too (none against each other), and the Pens play again Sunday. Specifically:
Saturday
RANGERS AT FLYERS, 1:00
Senators at Penguins, 3:00
Thrashers at Sabres, 7:00
Devils at Canadiens, 7:00
Hurricanes at Capitals, 7:00
Lightning at Panthers, 7:00
Sunday
FLYERS AT RANGERS, 12:30
Bruins at Penguins, 3:00
Wow, I could watch 12 hours of hockey this weekend.
Hopefully, we can at least count on the Bruins (who will use their shitty play of the weekend on the Islanders Saturday) and Devils (Marty looking to tie Roy's all-time win record), and possibly count on the Capitals (if they get their shit together - who knows with that team). Then we'll be looking for help from the East's 12 through 14 spots. But hell, we got some help from number 15 last night, and "anything can happen in the New NHL," right??
Hah. Well. As I said yesterday, stranger things have happened. All 3 of them should be way closer games than Isles-Canadiens should have been, so there's always hope.
Most importantly, of course, are our two games. Let's concentrate on those and see how the cards fall out.
Let's Go Rangers!
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