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Eastern Conference Wild Card Watch

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JianYang said:
If anything, I put even less stock in schedule strength down the stretch. You are more likely to catch Top teams playing uninspired games as we get closer to the end.
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Yeah I can see the Caps having a few off nights over the next few weeks. Would be worse playing teams like the Leafs, Panthers or Lightening who are fighting for playoff positioning
 
It’s basically a two-horse race at this point. The Rangers are running out of race track quickly to make it a three-house race. CBJ, Detroit and Boston are pretty much done. “Anything can happen” doesn’t mean it will, obviously. The odds of anyone but Montreal or NYI being WC 2 are small, relatively speaking. They’re also the two best even strength teams of the lot, which is not a coincidence.
 
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boredmale said:
What I notice (as an Islanders fan) is we seem to have this issue every year where we sort of get behind the pack then make a late season rush to make the playoffs. lol
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Yeah, the Islanders have to be the most stealth team in the NHL. No huge regular seasons so they're usually forgotten about, and yet they've made the playoffs 7 times in the past decade, including back-to-back 3rd-round appearances in 2019 and 2020.
 
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It's crazy that one of the highest scoring team in the NHL can go so cold over such a crucial stretch of the season. The CBJ average 4+ goals per game on home ice entering the homestand last week, that was 1st in the entire NHL. They were shut out in 3 of the 4 games and only scored 1 goal in the other. Could be just an unlucky stretch or a return to average after unsustainable scoring levels.

Either way, this was a critical stretch for the season for the Jackets and it feels like it has gone on too long to recover from.
 
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The Last Red said:
Rangers have played two more games than the other two. And are playing poorly. Probably done.
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They gained a point on the Habs and Islanders yesterday. I wouldn't count them out. One good run and they can still make it. I say that as an Islanders fan
 
JianYang said:
I wouldn't put too much stock in schedule strength. Montreal had their biggest push up the standing in late December and January, when their schedule was the hardest.

If anything, I put even less stock in schedule strength down the stretch. You are more likely to catch Top teams playing uninspired games as we get closer to the end.

Look at how the standing looked at 4 nation break compared to now. Montreal was essentially out of it, and there's still runway for teams like Detroit to go on a big streak again.
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You can always anecdotal evidence to support anything but on average schedule strength matters, I mean it’s easier to get the 2 points against Nashville and Chicago then Colorado and Dallas.

Habs have 5 games againssub .500 teams, Chicago, Nashville, Flyers twice (who are very bad lately) and Boston who sold at the TDL.

NYI and NYR have 2 and 3, respectively. It’s a sizeable advantage but of course there’s 0 guaranteed point in this league especially since Habs aren’t are powerhouse themselves
 
boredmale said:
They gained a point on the Habs and Islanders yesterday. I wouldn't count them out. One good run and they can still make it. I say that as an Islanders fan
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Been waiting for that for months . . and crickets. Their team chemistry is in shambles. Well done, Drury.
 
Rhaegar Targaryen said:
Habs lost two must win games against the NYI and Avalanche. They need those points badly.
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They still came out with 2 of 4 points, because they aren't easy preys. They are one of the best 3rd period teams in the league, meaning they don't easily give up.

Of their remaining games:
2 games vs Panthers (2-0-0 so far)
2 games vs Canes (1-0-0)
1 game vs Sens (3-0-0)
1 game vs Leafs (1-2-0)
1 game vs Blues (1-0-0)
1 game vs Flyers (1-0-0)
1 game vs Bruins (0-2-0)
1 game vs Preds (1-0-0)
1 game vs Wings (2-1-0)
1 game vs Hawks (0-1-0)

There are no assurances, but with a combined record of 12-6-0 versus the teams left to play, their destiny is in their hands.
 
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