There's less than a week until the Stanley Cup playoffs, every team in the East has only two games to play, and there are still four possible opponents for the Penguins in the first round: Flyers (94 points), Blue Jackets (92), Capitals (91) and Islanders (91).
Crazier still, only one of those will make the playoffs at all.
Observations within that: Kiss the Islanders goodbye. They just couldn't afford that loss today. ... The number to watch with the Flyers is their regulation wins, 26, the lowest of these four survivors. They hold the spot right now, but they lose every tie. ... The Flyers finish with back-to-back home games Monday and Tuesday against the Hurricanes and Canadiens, which sounds daunting, but neither of those teams should be anywhere near as urgent. ... The Blue Jackets also finish with two at home, tonight against the Bruins and Tuesday against the Capitals.
Anyone have a preference out of these?
Mine's Columbus, but I won't lie: I'll take the three-hour drive and breezy logistics at Nationwide Arena. And I've got noise-canceling headphones for the stupid cannon.
THE ASYLUM
Four potential opponents ... still!
There's less than a week until the Stanley Cup playoffs, every team in the East has only two games to play, and there are still four possible opponents for the Penguins in the first round: Flyers (94 points), Blue Jackets (92), Capitals (91) and Islanders (91).
Crazier still, only one of those will make the playoffs at all.
The Saturday scores:
• Capitals 6, Penguins 3, right here
• Senators 3, Islanders 0, in Elmont, N.Y.
• Blue Jackets 5, Canadiens 2, in Montréal
• Flyers 7, Jets 1, in Winnipeg, Manitoba
Which left the wild-card standings this way:
NHL
Observations within that: Kiss the Islanders goodbye. They just couldn't afford that loss today. ... The number to watch with the Flyers is their regulation wins, 26, the lowest of these four survivors. They hold the spot right now, but they lose every tie. ... The Flyers finish with back-to-back home games Monday and Tuesday against the Hurricanes and Canadiens, which sounds daunting, but neither of those teams should be anywhere near as urgent. ... The Blue Jackets also finish with two at home, tonight against the Bruins and Tuesday against the Capitals.
Anyone have a preference out of these?
Mine's Columbus, but I won't lie: I'll take the three-hour drive and breezy logistics at Nationwide Arena. And I've got noise-canceling headphones for the stupid cannon.
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