Archive for the 'Playoffs' Category
Pretty nice first round of playoff action in the NHL these past two weeks. The Flyers’ game seven victory over the Capitals destroyed my chances of having a perfect first round of predictions for the East. Meanwhile, I got smacked around pretty good out in the West, nailing down just one of the four winners (the Wings). I give the Avalanche a lot of credit for winning three straight to close out the Wild. I also give the Capitals a ton of credit for coming back from a 3-1 deficit to force an exciting seventh game.
One more first round thought while we’re at it, I thought Martin Brodeur should’ve shaken Avery’s hand. I can’t stand Avery. I’ll be the first guy to talk about what a punk he is. That said, Brodeur has to be bigger than that. He has to keep the high ground. With a guy like Avery it almost impossible to lose the high ground, but Marty did. At least for one day.
Onto my second round predictions:
Penguins over Rangers in 6
Canadiens over Flyers in 6
Sharks over Stars in 7
Red Wings over Avalanche in 5
Of all the nights to have men’s league hockey this week, I’m have to miss TWO game seven’s tonight?? After Ovechkin turned the 3rd period of last night’s game into “Ovietime” to force game 7 tonight, Washington and Philly start the party at 7pm tonight. I should be able to catch the first two periods of that game before mine.
That’s followed by Calgary @ San Jose @ 10pm. If you see a red Jeep hauling ass from New Hyde Park to Woodside tonight around 11:30p…that’s me racing home to catch the end of that game. Go Flames!
Anyways…the point of this post is not my impending speeding ticket tonight. It’s this article in the Globe and Mail about the CAL/SJ tilt tonight. It’s the first trip to the playoffs for the Flames’ Eric Nystrom, who’s famous father knows a thing or two about playoff heroics.
This may be Eric Nystrom’s first visit to the NHL playoff party, but he spent his whole life hearing stories from and about his famous father, Bob Nystrom, a member of the New York Islanders’ four Stanley Cup championship teams.
Nystrom, the Calgary Flames’ rookie left winger, doesn’t remember a whole lot of talk about famous seventh games; mostly because his dad’s most famous playoff heroics came in overtime of a sixth game to give the Islanders the 1980 Stanley Cup.
“But he’s talked to me about the time they were down 3-0 and they came back and won it in seven,” said the younger Nystrom.
That came in 1975, when the Islanders, just an up-and-coming team three years removed from their expansion birth — they came into the league with the Atlanta Flames — rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Then they almost did it again next round, overcoming a 3-0 deficit to get it to 3-3 against a Philadelphia Flyers’ team that would eventually win the series and go on to win the Stanley Cup that season.
Only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs earned a similar distinction.
“He just said, they focused on one game at a time and slowly climbed back,” said Nystrom. “That’s what you need to do in the playoffs. You can’t let one game upset you or rattle you. You’ve just got to keep focused and push the envelope next game.”
No Islanders in the playoffs? No problem. I am still capable of butchering my playoff predictions, I just won’t have the temporary joy of envisioning the Isles catching fire and tearing through the East. I get delusional when the Isles make the playoffs.
Without further ado, my first-round playoff predictions (and yes I realize the playoffs already stared but so what?):
FIRST ROUND
Rangers over Devils in 6
Penguins over Senators in 5
Capitals over Flyers in 6
Canadiens over Bruins in 5
Ducks over Stars in 7
Red Wings over Predators in 4
Wild over Avalanche in 6
Flames over Sharks in 7
After a lost weekend at the Coliseum in which the Isles scored one lousy goal, the team finds itself five points behind the Flyers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Islanders, who are currently in tenth place, have 15 games left, one less than Philly and ninth place Buffalo. The Sabres have 71 points, two more than the Islanders.
It doesn’t look good but the lights ain’t out yet. But man did the Islanders lay an egg this past weeked or what? First, they fell to the Flyers 4-1, a game which was pretty much sealed when the Isles gave up yet another short-handed goal. Then on Sunday, after a pretty awesome ceremony marking the “Core of the Four,” the Isles went out and failed to put one of their 53 shots past backup Panther keeper Craig Anderson.
Here’s what some Islanders had to say after the game.
“I looked up at the scoreboard and I turned to Wade [Dubielewicz] and said, ‘I can’t believe we had 52 shots,” newest Islander Rob Davison told Newsday. Asked whether Davison had ever been on a team to register 52 shots that failed to win, he said “Absolutely not.”
Wait a minute, my bad. Davision didn’t say that after yesterday’s game. He said that after the Islanders pulled almost the same stunt and lost to the Penguins just last week after recording 52 shots. At least they scored two goals in that game. Yesterday – nada. 53 shots and no goals and a big loss. I hope this freak occurence ends here. One time is bizarre. Two is suspicious. Any more and we have a trend. The Islanders don’t need bad trends right now. They need goals and points in the standings.
For the season, the Islanders are tied with Columbus for the second-fewest goals in the league with 164. The Blues have the fewest with 161. The Islanders and the Blue Jackets share the worst goals-per-game ratios in the league, however, averaging just 2.44 tallies. The Blues average 2.47. If the season ended today, none of the three would make the playoffs. By contrast, Ottawa leads the league with 216 goals in 66 contests – a 3.27 goals-per-game average. On paper it doesn’t seem like such a huge difference but it is.
The Isles’ lack of scoring has been a major storyline all year. We’re not breaking any new ground but the fact remains, as we’ve said and as many others have said, this team isn’t going to win consistently until a little more firepower can be had. Maybe I need to revise that statement, and exchange “scoring’ for “firepower” because the shots have been coming lately. Shots are great. The Islanders need goals.
They needed four points over the weekend. They came away with zero. The clock is ticking.
Next up, a home-and-home series against the Rangers starting tomorrow night.
With five teams battling for the last two playoff spots in the East, the Isles’ fate will likely be decided some time during the last week of the season. That said, I need to break out an old cliche here and say that every game counts. There are 40 points on the board. The Isles will probably need at least 25 of them to have a shot.
Here’s what their schedule looks like from now until last call on April 4 at the Garden, with the Isles record against each of the teams in parentheses: three games against the Devils (5-0), three games against the Penguins (2-3), one game against the Thrashers (1-2), four games against the Flyers (1-3), two games against the Panthers (0-2), four games against the Rangers (3-1), one game against the Lightning (3-0), one game against the Canadiens (0-3), and one game against the Maple Leafs (2-1).
The Isles have a combined 17-15 record against the above teams. If they play that way during this stretch drive, they’re looking at 11 wins. Throw in an overtime loss and they’d have 23 points and 90 for the season. As I said earlier this week, it’s rare that anyone gets in the playoffs in the East with less than 91 points.
The Isles’ fate could very well be determined over a brutal stretch of nine games from March 8 to March 27 where they are the visting team seven times, including four road games in a row against Philly, Tampa, Florida, and Montreal.
The good news is they finish up the season with three straight home games (Flyers, Devils, Rangers) before heading to MSG for the season finale.
If you’ve been saving some money for a few tickets to support the team, now is the time to pull the trigger. 20 games to go, nine at the Old Barn.
It’s going to be tough but when is it ever easy for these guys?
Six in a row! Wow. These guys continue to baffle me. Just when you think they might be on their way out, they go on their longest winning streak since December 2003. They may lack firepower and play ugly every now and then but this team has always been resilient under Coach Ted Nolan.
DP notched his third shutout of the season and his second against the Lightning. Miro Satan scored the lone goal. The Isles are now ninth in the East, one point behind Boston, Buffalo, and the Rangers and one point ahead of the Flyers. Twenty games to go. Buckle up.
