1specter
Registered User
- Sep 27, 2016
- 12,316
- 18,586
Looking at the 'battle' for the Wild Card spots this year in the East has been like watching a bunch of uncoordinated drunks stumbling around trying to win at musical chairs. It seems like no team aside from maybe the Islanders can just get the job done down the stretch and pull away, continuously embarrassing themselves over and over again.
NYI is pacing for 93 pts, while Pittsburgh is pacing for 92 pts, which is the lowest total of an Eastern 8th place playoff team in the 'Wild Card' era and lowest since 2012 when the Sens made it with 92 (not including lockout/covid seasons). On average, the last Wild Card team has had around 95-97 pts most years, in fact last season Washington had a whopping 100 pts in that spot.
When you look at the other teams in the 'race', they have also been pathetic in crunch time. At one point it looked like the Islanders were in serious danger of falling out, with Barzal getting hurt bad (he's still not skating), and teams like Ottawa, Washington, Florida, Buffalo and Detroit all having 5-6 games in hand and being only a couple of points behind. Despite this, they've all stumbled hilariously while NYI has managed to go on a bit of a run and stay ahead of the pack (7-3-1 in March). Florida actually made it into a playoff spot, only to follow it up with a 4 game losing streak (all regulation too). Ottawa was within striking distance, then Dorion thought he had big dick energy and got Chychrun and they've pretty much sucked since. Buffalo looked like they were finally gonna break the drought but goaltending and D let them down spectacularly while they also faced some bad injuries. Detroit was overperforming their underlying numbers and eventually resigned to the fact that this is another failed season and they may as well tank the rest of the way. Washington is old and injured.
Records in March
Pittsburgh: 6-6-1
Florida: 6-5-1
Washington: 5-5-2
Ottawa: 6-7-1
Buffalo: 4-7-3
Detroit: 3-8-1
Not a single winning record and a combined record of 30-38-9 for all these teams fighting for that last spot
Can any of the other drunks supplant Pittsburgh or will Pittsburgh be the one that successfully falls backwards into the playoffs?
NYI is pacing for 93 pts, while Pittsburgh is pacing for 92 pts, which is the lowest total of an Eastern 8th place playoff team in the 'Wild Card' era and lowest since 2012 when the Sens made it with 92 (not including lockout/covid seasons). On average, the last Wild Card team has had around 95-97 pts most years, in fact last season Washington had a whopping 100 pts in that spot.
When you look at the other teams in the 'race', they have also been pathetic in crunch time. At one point it looked like the Islanders were in serious danger of falling out, with Barzal getting hurt bad (he's still not skating), and teams like Ottawa, Washington, Florida, Buffalo and Detroit all having 5-6 games in hand and being only a couple of points behind. Despite this, they've all stumbled hilariously while NYI has managed to go on a bit of a run and stay ahead of the pack (7-3-1 in March). Florida actually made it into a playoff spot, only to follow it up with a 4 game losing streak (all regulation too). Ottawa was within striking distance, then Dorion thought he had big dick energy and got Chychrun and they've pretty much sucked since. Buffalo looked like they were finally gonna break the drought but goaltending and D let them down spectacularly while they also faced some bad injuries. Detroit was overperforming their underlying numbers and eventually resigned to the fact that this is another failed season and they may as well tank the rest of the way. Washington is old and injured.
Records in March
Pittsburgh: 6-6-1
Florida: 6-5-1
Washington: 5-5-2
Ottawa: 6-7-1
Buffalo: 4-7-3
Detroit: 3-8-1
Not a single winning record and a combined record of 30-38-9 for all these teams fighting for that last spot
Can any of the other drunks supplant Pittsburgh or will Pittsburgh be the one that successfully falls backwards into the playoffs?
