Penguins Vs. The Eastern Conference (2/21/08)
Matt Bodenschatz | National Hockey League
Feb 21, 01:51 PM | Hype this story!
Let’s start with the Atlantic Division, as per the norm. Things seem to be relatively quiet in the sense that the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins remain the top two teams and are playing the best hockey.
However, the Philadelphia Flyers have fallen into a massive slump, losing their last eight games. Their free-fall has allowed the New York Rangers, who, all of a sudden look pretty good, to climb into third place. The New York Islanders also have been doing quite well with five consecutive wins. In fact, they’re just one point behind the Flyers for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.
| Atlantic Division Standings | ||||||||||||
| GP | W | L | OTL | Pts | GF | GA | Home | Away | Div | L 10 | Streak | |
| New Jersey | 61 | 35 | 21 | 5 | 75 | 164 | 145 | 20-11-1 | 15-10-4 | 9-10-3 | 7-1-2 | 3 W |
| Pittsburgh | 60 | 34 | 21 | 5 | 73 | 177 | 161 | 18-10-3 | 16-11-2 | 8-11-2 | 6-3-1 | 2 W |
| NY Rangers | 62 | 30 | 24 | 8 | 68 | 157 | 155 | 19-13-0 | 11-11-8 | 13-6-0 | 6-2-2 | 1 L |
| Philadelphia | 60 | 30 | 24 | 6 | 66 | 186 | 174 | 13-11-5 | 17-13-1 | 9-10-1 | 2-7-1 | 8 L |
| NY Islanders | 61 | 29 | 25 | 7 | 65 | 153 | 176 | 16-12-3 | 13-13-4 | 11-7-0 | 5-4-1 | 5 W |
As for the entire Eastern Conference, the biggest change — and it’s not so much of a change from recent weeks, but the season as a whole — is that the mighty Ottawa Senators have fallen dramatically. Their play has been so bad that their conference lead — once considered to be untouchable — is now in jeopardy. In fact, the Devils and Montreal Canadiens are tied in points with the Senators, though both teams have played one more game, keeping them in second and fourth place, respectively.
The “Senator Slide,” has even given the Penguins a legitimate chance at the top seed, as their 73 points are just two shy of the Senators’ 75, and both teams have played the same number of games.
As mentioned above, the Islanders, somehow, have climbed back into the race and are one point shy of the Philadelphia Flyers for eighth place, and the Buffalo Sabres just can’t seem to break the barrier to climb into a playoff seed.
While the Carolina Hurricanes currently sits in third place in the East, it is pertinent to point out that their 65 points would not be playoff-worthy if they were in a competent division. The Washington Capitals and Atlanta Thrashers are knocking on their door, though, and since the Hurricanes have played two more games than both teams, it would appear one of them is in line for a bump into the playoff picture, at least temporarily.
At this point, it would appear three teams are completely eliminated from the playoff picture. The Florida Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning have a firm grasp on the final three spots in the conference and, with the trade deadline looming, could become sellers with hopes of nabbing the top pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.
| Eastern Conference Standings | ||||||||||||
| GP | W | L | OTL | Pts | GF | GA | Home | Away | Conf | L 10 | Streak | |
| Ottawa | 60 | 35 | 20 | 5 | 75 | 204 | 177 | 19-11-2 | 16-9-3 | 33-19-4 | 4-5-1 | 1 W |
| New Jersey | 61 | 35 | 21 | 5 | 75 | 164 | 145 | 20-11-1 | 15-10-4 | 30-18-5 | 7-1-2 | 3 W |
| Carolina | 63 | 30 | 28 | 5 | 65 | 183 | 201 | 15-11-3 | 15-17-2 | 28-22-5 | 5-4-1 | 2 L |
| Montreal | 61 | 33 | 19 | 9 | 75 | 192 | 172 | 14-10-5 | 19-9-4 | 32-17-8 | 6-4-0 | 4 W |
| Pittsburgh | 60 | 34 | 21 | 5 | 73 | 177 | 161 | 18-10-3 | 16-11-2 | 26-20-5 | 6-3-1 | 2 W |
| NY Rangers | 62 | 30 | 24 | 8 | 68 | 157 | 155 | 19-13-0 | 11-11-8 | 29-17-6 | 6-2-2 | 1 L |
| Boston | 59 | 30 | 23 | 6 | 66 | 155 | 160 | 14-12-3 | 16-11-3 | 24-19-6 | 5-4-1 | 1 W |
| Philadelphia | 60 | 30 | 24 | 6 | 66 | 186 | 174 | 13-11-5 | 17-13-1 | 25-20-6 | 2-7-1 | 8 L |
| Buffalo | 60 | 29 | 23 | 8 | 66 | 177 | 169 | 16-9-3 | 13-14-5 | 26-18-8 | 6-2-2 | 1 W |
| NY Islanders | 61 | 29 | 25 | 7 | 65 | 153 | 176 | 16-12-3 | 13-13-4 | 26-22-3 | 5-4-1 | 5 W |
| Washington | 61 | 28 | 26 | 7 | 63 | 173 | 188 | 15-13-2 | 13-13-5 | 25-24-6 | 5-3-2 | 1 L |
| Atlanta | 61 | 29 | 28 | 4 | 62 | 165 | 195 | 16-14-2 | 13-14-2 | 26-24-4 | 6-3-1 | 1 L |
| Florida | 62 | 27 | 29 | 6 | 60 | 169 | 178 | 12-12-5 | 15-17-1 | 23-27-3 | 5-4-1 | 2 L |
| Toronto | 61 | 25 | 27 | 9 | 59 | 168 | 194 | 15-11-5 | 10-16-4 | 22-20-9 | 5-4-1 | 2 W |
| Tampa Bay | 60 | 25 | 28 | 7 | 57 | 174 | 197 | 15-14-2 | 10-14-5 | 21-24-7 | 5-3-2 | 2 L |
Comments
Ashley Gallant
Feb 21, 06:14 PM
It still blows my mind that the third seed, Carolina, would actually be out of the playoffs if the standings were based solely on points, and not division leaders. Is it just me, or is there something fundamentally wrong when there is an entire division as bad as the Southeast?
john
Feb 21, 07:53 PM
I can sort of see the rationale for giving each division winner a playoff spot, but the seed should be whatever the club earned (ie, put Carolina in the 8 slot).
As it is, it punishes the #4 and #5 seeds for the benefit of #6. With the current standings, the Rangers would get the gift of Carolina while the Habs and Pens would have to face each other—just like the Rangers got Atlanta last year while the Pens had to play the Sens. The #6 seed hasn’t earned this sort of bonus.
Ben Schmidt
Feb 22, 11:46 AM
Since I’m a little late with this, I’ll include last night’s results in the projections:
Ottawa: GP: 61 W: 35 P: 76 -> W: 47 P: 102
New Jersey: GP: 61 W: 35 P: 75 -> W: 47 P: 101
Carolina: GP: 64 W: 31 P: 67 -> W: 40 P: 86
Pittsburgh: GP: 61 W: 35 P: 75 -> W: 47 P: 101
Montreal: GP: 62 W: 33 P: 75 -> W: 44 P: 99
Boston: GP: 60 W: 31 P: 68 -> W: 42 P: 93
Buffalo: GP: 61 W: 30 P: 68 -> W: 40 P: 91
NY Rangers: GP: 62 W: 30 P: 68 -> W: 40 P: 90
————————————————————————-
NY Islanders: GP: 62 W: 30 P: 67 -> W: 40 P: 89
Philadelphia: GP: 61 W: 30 P: 66 -> W: 40 P: 89
Washington: GP: 61 W: 28 P: 63 -> W: 38 P: 85
Atlanta: GP: 62 W: 29 P: 62 -> W: 38 P: 82
Florida: GP: 63 W: 27 P: 61 -> W: 35 P: 79
Toronto: GP: 62 W: 25 P: 59 -> W: 33 P: 78
Tampa Bay: GP: 61 W: 25 P: 57 -> W: 34 P: 77
I think this is the first week in a while in which the projections don’t actually change the order of the standings at all.
Also, if the projections even come close to what will happen, the third place seed will have fewer points than the 10th seed. Yikes.
Now for some Penguins-specific analysis:
In 21 games remaining – To reach 92 points: 17 points -> 8-12-1
To reach 100 points: 25 points -> 12-8-1
To reach 105 points: 30 points -> 15-6-0
It’s worth noting that the projections above show the Pens hitting 101 points,
so 100 is clearly within reason. 105 points looks less so, until you consider
that 12-3-6 would also get the team there. It’s a lot less likely, but still
possible.
DaBich
Feb 22, 01:25 PM
Wow, how tight can the race get???
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