Faceoff Factor

Penguins Vs. The Eastern Conference (4/1)

Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins

Apr 1, 09:41 AM | Hype this story!

Before I get started, I’ll point out that this is the next to the last edition of the Penguins Vs. The Eastern Conference for the 2007-08 season. Next week I will wait until all games have concluded and I will analyze the final standings.

But, for now, we’ll take a brief look at the Atlantic Division and how things have fallen into place.

At this point, the Pittsburgh Penguins need two points to secure the division, as the maximum number of points the New Jersey Devils can earn is 101. So any combination of two points either lost by the Devils or earned by the Penguins would secure a first place finish in the Atlantic — the first since the Penguins joined the division in the late 1990s.

So the battle really comes down to who will finish second through fourth in the division. If I was a betting man, I would put my money on things finishing out just as they are in the Atlantic.

The Eastern Conference is a different story, though. But, before I get to that, let’s look at the Atlantic standings.

Atlantic Division Standings
	GP	W	L	OTL	Pts	GF	GA	Home	Away	Div	L 10	Streak
x Pittsburgh	80	46	26	8	100	243	212	25-10-5	21-16-3	14-13-3	7-2-1	1 L
New Jersey	78	43	28	7	93	198	189	23-14-2	20-14-5	11-14-4	4-5-1	1 W
NY Rangers	79	41	27	11	93	205	192	25-13-2	16-14-9	19-7-3	5-3-2	1 W
Philadelphia	79	40	28	11	91	241	229	19-14-6	21-14-5	15-11-3	5-2-3	1 L
e NY Islanders	79	34	37	8	76	189	235	18-17-4	16-20-4	14-14-1	2-7-1	2 L
x – clinched playoff spot e – eliminated from playoff contention

So, in the Eastern Conference, things are quite tight. First you have the Penguins and Montreal Canadiens just two points apart battling for first place. Then you have the Carolina Hurricanes with a minuscule two-point lead over the division rival Washington Capitals for third place. After that, a cluster of five teams ranking from fourth place to eighth place are separated by two points.

I guess describing the conference as tight might be an understatement, considering the fourth place Devils could, technically, be knocked out of the playoffs by the surging ninth place Capitals, though it seems unlikely; and the sixth place Ottawa Senators could, technically, be knocked out of the playoffs by the 10th place Buffalo Sabres, though unlikely.

In other words, everything remains up in the air.

One thing, however, that I feel likely will happen is that the Capitals will squeak in one way or another. They sit just two points out of the Southeast Division lead, which would give them a third place conference ranking, and three points out of seventh and eighth place in the conference rankings. With a four game win streak and an 8-2-0 record in their last 10, the odds seem good that they’ll power their way in.

Now, let’s take a look at the conference standings, and following them, I will list my prediction for the final standings. Then, next week, I will compare my predictions to the actual standings.

Eastern Conference Standings
	GP	W	L	OTL	Pts	GF	GA	Home	Away	Div	L 10	Streak
x Pittsburgh	80	46	26	8	100	243	212	25-10-5	21-16-3	14-13-3	7-2-1	1 L
x Montreal	79	44	25	10	98	253	220	20-13-6	24-12-4	17-11-1	6-3-1	1 L
Carolina	79	42	31	6	90	242	239	23-12-4	19-19-2	18-9-2	7-2-1	1 L
New Jersey	78	43	28	7	93	198	189	23-14-2	20-14-5	11-14-4	4-5-1	1 W
NY Rangers	79	41	27	11	93	205	192	25-13-2	16-14-9	19-7-3	5-3-2	1 W
Ottawa	79	42	29	8	92	252	240	22-13-4	20-16-4	17-11-1	5-4-1	2 L
Boston	79	40	28	11	91	208	215	21-15-4	19-13-7	12-12-6	4-3-3	1 W
Philadelphia	79	40	28	11	91	241	229	19-14-6	21-14-5	15-11-3	5-2-3	1 L
Washington	79	40	31	8	88	231	228	20-15-3	20-16-5	15-11-3	8-2-0	4 W
Buffalo	79	37	30	12	86	247	236	20-15-6	17-15-6	13-12-4	5-3-2	1 W
e Toronto	79	36	33	10	82	225	245	18-16-5	18-17-5	14-11-4	6-4-0	1 W
e Florida	79	36	34	9	81	208	218	18-15-8	18-19-1	14-13-2	6-3-1	3 L
e NY Islanders	79	34	37	8	76	189	235	18-17-4	16-20-4	14-14-1	2-7-1	2 L
e Atlanta	80	33	39	8	74	210	268	18-18-3	15-21-5	14-14-2	3-7-0	1 W
e Tampa Bay	79	31	39	9	71	219	253	20-18-3	11-21-6	12-14-3	5-4-1	1 L
x – clinched playoff spot e – eliminated from playoff contention

My Predictions (standings / playoff series)

1 Pittsburgh vs. 8 Carolina
I think Carolina will lose its 3rd seed, but will claim the 8th seed after the Penguins beat the Flyers twice.

2 Montreal vs. 7 Boston
Without Komisarek and Koivu, it will be tough for Montreal to regain 1st.

3 Washington vs. Ottawa
Washington has been red-hot and I see them taking control of their division, which gives them an automatic 3rd place ranking.

4 New Jersey vs. 5 NY Rangers
As mentioned above, I see nothing changing in the Atlantic and, as a result, I predict these teams to meet up.