Standings

Last night was good for other reasons as well, despite the point we granted Montréal for a job well-done. The Penguins beat a Kovalchuk-less, Lehtonen-less Atlanta - this victory gets classified as "not worrisome." They won by a lot, over a terrible team. All these bubble teams are gonna pick up points here and there, and I'm not worried about the Pens being able to beat a team like this. This is exactly the kind of place I'm comfortable with the Pens gaining their points. When they beat Boston, I was pissed.

The point is: other than these Pens' two and the point we gave the Canadiens, our other enemies stayed quiet last night. The Senators beat the Sabres 4-2 (the Sabres are still in my consideration, but at this point it's pretty much just so we can keep watching them fall), and the Caps blanked the Cats by 3 (Capitals, thank you. I'm sorry I yelled). Hell, the Red Wings even beat the Flyers 3-2. (Hey, Penguins. Detroit is Hockeytown. This "Pittsburgh is Hockeytahn" campaign is so inaccurate and assuming as to be offensive. You lost last season. Remember using a lot of firepower and no real defense in tearing through three subpar Eastern Conference teams before getting your asses handed to you in the finals? If Pittsburgh is Hockeytahn then Arizona is Football-land.) Sorry, I've derailed. The point is: even the Flyers lost. Which means it's time for me to stop pussy-footing around. I imagine Torts screaming at me to man up and allow myself to want greatness, to always look up instead of down. And in Torts I trust. So, let's take a look at those standings:

4. Philadelphia, 84 pts, 13 GR
5. Pittsburgh, 84 pts, 10 GR
6. NEW YORK RANGERS, 82 pts, 11 GR
7. Montréal, 81 pts, 12 GR
8. Carolina, 79 pts, 11 GR
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9. Florida, 78 pts, 12 GR
10. Buffalo, 76 pts, 12 GR

The Devils are in Carolina tonight at 7:00, in the only game tonight that affects these teams. As usual, I hate rooting for the Devils, so I won't be watching, but Go Devils nonetheless. Oh God even typing that hurts.

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!