Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Tuesday Roundup

With 28 days left in this season, the Caps are six points out of the eighth spot in the East.

With 28 days left in the 2006-07 season, the New York Islanders - the eventual eighth seed in the East - were in seventh place in the conference, and the top eight in the conference on that day (March 11) all made the playoffs.

Out West, the Calgary Flames - the eventual eighth seed in the conference - were in that eighth spot already and the top eight in the Western Conference on that day all made the playoffs.

With 28 days left in the 2005-06 season, the Tampa Basement Lightning - the eventual eighth seed in the East - were in sixth place in the conference, and seven of the top eight in the conference on that day (March 21) made the playoffs. The exception? The Thrashers, who fell from eight, allowing the Habs to make the post-season. And how far did Montreal come? From one point behind Atlanta with 28 days left.

In the West, eventual eighth seed Edmonton was in ninth place on March 21 and six of the top eight teams in the conference on that day made the playoffs, the only exceptions being Vancouver and Los Angeles who got replaced by San Jose and Edmonton. With 28 days left in the season, the Oilers had the same number of points as L.A. and the Sharks were only one point behind that pair and two behind the Canucks.

Point being, of the 32 playoff spots that have been claimed since the lockout, 29 were top-eight teams in their conference with four weeks left in the season, and, of the three others, no team was more than a single point out of a playoff spot at that point.

With 28 days left in this season, the Caps are seven points out of first in the Southeast Division.

With 28 days left in the 2006-07 season, four of the six eventual division winners were in first place. In the other two divisions, Atlanta, who on that day had the same number of points as Tampa but was in second by virtue of a tie-breaker, went on to win the Southeast and Detroit (with a game in hand) came from three points back of Nashville to win the Central.

With 28 days left in the 2005-06 season, five of the six eventual division winners were in first place. The exception was the Atlantic, where the Devils put together one of the great late season runs ever - 12-1-1 including an 11-0-0 streak to finish the season - to make up twelve points and pass both the Rangers and the Flyers and win the division by tie-breaker.

Point being, of the 12 division winners since the lockout, nine led their division with four weeks left and, of the other three, two had three or fewer points to make up. But there were those 2005-06 Devils...

Daily Awards
  • Hart: Ryan Kesler (Game-tying goal with 2:41 left, game-winning OT goal, +1, 76% faceoffs won in 2-1 win)
  • Ross: Jarome Iginla, Alex Tanguay, Dion Phaneuf (3 points each)
  • Norris: Dion Phaneuf (3A, +3, 4 SOG)
  • Vezina: Roberto Luongo (17 saves on 18 shots against in OT win)
  • Richard: Ryan Kesler, Brad Boyes, Alex Tanguay (2G each)
  • Calder: Brandon Dubinsky (A, 5 hits)
  • Aiken: Manny Legace (3 goals allowed on 11 shots against in 19:58 of work)

20 comments:

FAUX RUMORS said...

1) With all the competing team playing each other and with many possible '3 point games' its VERY difficult to overcome ANY deficit, let alone one so large with so few games remaining
2) Going 10-2, or 11-1, which is what would probably be needed to achieve that Herculean accomplishment, doesn't seem likely especially when one looks at the upcoming schedule.
3) Time to look toward next season:
root for individual accomplishemnts: AO getting 60, and Backstrom leading rookies, etc.
Get Huet under contract, and look toward draft day.

Anonymous said...

" Hit me with it! I've come a long way to see you, Mary. The least you can do is level with me. What are my chances?
Mary: Not good.
Lloyd: You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?
Mary: I'd say more like one out of a million.
[pause]
Lloyd: So you're telling me there's a chance???."

~Mark said...

From Dumb and Dumber:
"Lloyd: What are the chances of a guy like you and a girl like me... ending up together?
Mary: Well, that's pretty difficult to say.
Lloyd: Hit me with it! I've come a long way to see you, Mary. The least you can do is level with me. What are my chances?
Mary: Not good.
Lloyd: You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?
Mary: I'd say more like one out of a million.
[pause]
Lloyd: So you're telling me there's a chance.
"
Enough said.

~Mark said...

@Llyod Christmas ~
WOW! Great minds...

JP said...

+1 to Lloyd and Mark (and for those of you visual learners...)

Anonymous said...

That's sick, Mark - ripping off my material!!!

Anonymous said...

"Lloyd: So you're telling me there's a chance."

So you're saying that this is from 'Dumb and Dumber', right? Well, there you are.

Oh, JP, thanks for the tub of icy water in the face. I needed that. Not. I am dumb and dumber yet.

Unknown said...

Given that it's extraordinarily unlikely that the Caps make the top eight, I'd like to see Eric Fehr get top-six time. Let's see what he's got.

Anonymous said...

@tyler
"I'd like to see Eric Fehr get top-six time. Let's see what he's got."

After, what, 30-35 games, we've already pretty much seen what Fehr has, and it's not much. Unless he's holding back he's a top AHL player and that's about it. I just haven't seen anything special from the kid.

~Mark said...

@Llyod
Timestamp check.

@Brunella
Are you speaking?

Anonymous said...

Extra ice time available at Kettler starting April 7.

If you want to see a Capital after the 7th, check out your local golf course.

~Mark said...

@anonymASS

Gee, I wonder why you're posting anonymously? hhhmmm.
Find somewhere else to troll!

Red Rover said...

man this is depressing

Unknown said...

I agree with JP that you can't put top-six-style players on the fourth line and get an idea of what they can do. And given that this team has an apparently chronic RW problem, let him play 2d line RW.

Anonymous said...

Fuck it. Never say die.

IF we win the game in hand (let's say against Calgary), AND we win both games against the Canes, we'll be equal on games played and a point back. Then we need to get our noses ahead at the finish line.

Assume a 50% chance of each of those things happening (we're about as good as the Flames and Canes, and I'm calling the finish line sprint 50/50, just cuz), then it's a 1 in 16 chance (1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2).

6.25%

No likely, sure--but not one in a million. Or even a hundred.

JP said...

It's not just me you're agreeing with, Tyler - it's Boudreau as well:

"You get called up, and you'd be thrown on the fourth line and get five minutes of ice time and six games later, management would come say, 'You're a scorer, and you're not scoring.' I never thought that was the right thing to do.

"If we call up a scoring guy, you've got to put him in a position to score. If we bring up a checking guy, he's slotted into a position to check."

So why has Fehr played less than 13 minutes in all but two of his games this season - the first two - and logged significant time on the fourth line? I guess we'd have to ask the coach that question.

Whiter Mage said...

Your HUSBAND?! What was all that "One in a million" talk?

FAUX RUMORS said...

1) Another realization may be to demote Fedorov to the 3rd line and promote Laich to the 2nd. There doesn't appear to be any chemistry between the 2 Russians
2) Other than winning face-offs Feds hasn't done anything 5 on 5. Agreed that Fehr(NOT Fleischmann) should be given a shot the last dozen games to play on a top line. Else send him back to Hershey.
3) Sorry to read that Clark doesn't look ready. At this point just shut him down till next season.

Anonymous said...

We're done. But the last 4 months have been a good run and given these guys a taste of what they can do and should do EVERY NIGHT. I know this was supposed to be the year we got back to the playoffs, and I hate to say it...but wait till next year.

Anonymous said...

*Covers ears*
Damn it, why couldn't I remain in the blind optimisitic state that I managed to get into even after this weekend? Sigh, the truth really does hurt, but, I say we go out flying and not throwing in the skates for clubs just yet.
BTW: Make that eight points out the flyers are probably going to win. :(