Eastern Conference Wild Card Watch

[BallardEra]

Panthers could drop down into WC1 spot if they're not careful.

 

[The Last Red]

Caps gotta be happy they’re now highly unlikely to get the Rangers. I don’t care how rough a season they’ve had. I still wouldn’t want to face them in the playoffs if they got there

Such a dumb take. They’ve been ass for months.

 

[viceroy]

Panthers could drop down into WC1 spot if they're not careful.

They might want that. Leafs vs Cats.

 

[Ulysses31]

Panthers could drop down into WC1 spot if they're not careful.

maybe they want to

 

[jbeck5]

Are the Leafs about to win the division and still have to play the Panthers when they drop to a wild card spot? Sens are approaching the Panthers 3 spot!

I was thinking about this today...

I don't see the sens as some crazy strong team... And they've had many ups and downs over the season...but they're only 4 points back of Florida and 6 points back of Tampa...same amount of gp.

That means every 38 games, you flip a sens L into a W, and the sens are tied with Florida.

That means every 26 games, you flip a sens L into a W, and the sens are tied with Tampa.

Maybe I need to stop putting FLA and Tampa on a pedestal if they're only capable of flipping a loss into a win every 25-40 games compared to Ottawa.

That's like teams being separated by 2 points in 35 games when I was growing up. That's neck and neck.

 

[NyQuil]

I was thinking about this today...

I don't see the sens as some crazy strong team... And they've had many ups and downs over the season...but they're only 4 points back of Florida and 6 points back of Tampa...same amount of gp.

That means every 38 games, you flip a sens L into a W, and the sens are tied with Florida.

That means every 26 games, you flip a sens L into a W, and the sens are tied with Tampa.

Maybe I need to stop putting FLA and Tampa on a pedestal if they're only capable of flipping a loss into a win every 25-40 games compared to Ottawa.

That's like teams being separated by 2 points in 35 games when I was growing up. That's neck and neck.

There’s a pretty stark difference when it comes to goal differential.

6 teams with very positive differentials, the Sens and Rangers at around neutral, and then a bunch of negative teams.

The Habs obviously banking a lot of goals against earlier in the year back when they were getting caved.

 

[jbeck5]

There’s a pretty stark difference when it comes to goal differential.

Weird how they can't translate that into more than a couple more wins over almost a full season.

 

[NyQuil]

Weird how they can't translate that into more than a couple more wins over almost a full season.

Sports are full of statistical quirks.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

I was thinking about this today...

I don't see the sens as some crazy strong team... And they've had many ups and downs over the season...but they're only 4 points back of Florida and 6 points back of Tampa...same amount of gp.

That means every 38 games, you flip a sens L into a W, and the sens are tied with Florida.

That means every 26 games, you flip a sens L into a W, and the sens are tied with Tampa.

Maybe I need to stop putting FLA and Tampa on a pedestal if they're only capable of flipping a loss into a win every 25-40 games compared to Ottawa.

That's like teams being separated by 2 points in 35 games when I was growing up. That's neck and neck.

Florida has also been to back to back cup finals...winning last year. The amount the regular season means to Florida and Ottawa is entirely different. Until someone knocks off the Panthers in the playoffs they deserve to be on the pedestal and their play in the regular season is completely irrelevant honestly.

 

[jbeck5]

Sports are full of statistical quirks.

yup. Either way, I should probably take Florida and Tampa off a pedestal if they can only get 4-6 points more than the sens over a full season. I don't have Ottawa anywhere near any pedestal lol.

 

[NyQuil]

yup. Either way, I should probably take Florida and Tampa off a pedestal if they can only get 4-6 points more than the sens over a full season. I don't have Ottawa anywhere near any pedestal lol.

I tend to agree with @TheBeastCoast that those two teams in particular have nothing to prove in the regular season.

Taking the defending Cup champs off a pedestal is a bit of a choice.

I mean, you might as well just say that there are no pedestals if the team that won last year and is solidly in the playoffs this year isn’t on one.

 

[jbeck5]

Florida has also been to back to back cup finals...winning last year. The amount the regular season means to Florida and Ottawa is entirely different. Until someone knocks off the Panthers in the playoffs they deserve to be on the pedestal and their play in the regular season is completely irrelevant honestly.

I think it's got a lot to do with them dealing with injuries and not being as strong with big guns out of their lineup. Will they be ready? Have they played too much hockey in the last years and are banged up or fatigued?

What you say are good points, but there could be many other common factors other than them just not trying or caring as much.

 

[Fatass]

Florida has also been to back to back cup finals...winning last year. The amount the regular season means to Florida and Ottawa is entirely different. Until someone knocks off the Panthers in the playoffs they deserve to be on the pedestal and their play in the regular season is completely irrelevant honestly.

Do the Panthers get Ekblad back (after his getting caught with steroids) during the playoffs

 

[jbeck5]

I tend to agree with @TheBeastCoast that those two teams in particular have nothing to prove in the regular season.

Taking the defending Cup champs off a pedestal is a bit of a choice.

I mean, you might as well just say that there are no pedestals if the team that won last year and is solidly in the playoffs this year isn’t on one.

I think I'm leaning to not having any team on a pedestal lol

 

[Golden_Jet]

Do the Panthers get Ekblad back (after his getting caught with steroids) during the playoffs

For game 3

 

[SheldonJPlankton]

The Atlantic is exceptionally weak this year...especially at the top. No pedestal teams this regular season, just a bunch of "meh".

Now...could one of the former pedestal teams reinvent themselves for the post-season and catch fire in the playoffs?...that remains to be seen.

 

[kvladimir]

Complaint about the stupid divisional-bracket playoff format #5376582:

Say the Leafs finish ahead of CAR, 2nd in the East, and beat OTT in Round 1.

Now, say MTL (as WC2 / "8th seed") upsets WSH - no TOR/MTL in round 2, instead, TOR-TB/FLA and CAR/NJ-MTL!

 

[zenator]

The race is pretty much over.

Columbus is totally out of gas, and fading.

NY Rangers have something wrong with the team mentality this year, no killer instinct.

Even if Montreal goes 3-3 or 2-4 they'll be in for sure, as I can't see the teams behind them go on any sort of a win streak.

 

[MVP of West Hollywd]

I think they would more than likely miss with 2-4 but most likely Montreal plays well and closes this out.

 

[JianYang]

Montreal plays a b2b tonight going from Montreal to Nashville.

That's a very tough turnaround that 'strength of schedule" won't account for.

Nashville has had a couple days off, I believe.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

Montreal plays a b2b tonight going from Montreal to Nashville.

That's a very tough turnaround that 'strength of schedule" won't account for.

Nashville has had a couple days off, I believe.

Preds are, well, not good.

 

[JianYang]

Preds are, well, not good.

Any team can sting anyone else in this league, and a logistically difficult back to back are the kinds of nuances that need to be factored in.

Nashville may come in with a mindset to go through the motions, but if they want to play, this could be a difficult night for montreal.

 

[ole ole]

Any team can sting anyone else in this league, and a logistically difficult back to back are the kinds of nuances that need to be factored in.

Nashville may come in with a mindset to go through the motions, but if they want to play, this could be a difficult night for montreal.

It's not a do or die game but IF we take down the Preds tonight we will be sitting pretty good and it gives us a little breathing space. Lets just win this game.

 

[JediOrderPizza]

Go Preds, and need the Sens to win the next three. K thanks.

 

[Big Trout]

Go Preds, and need the Sens to win the next three. K thanks.

Go Panthers!