Around the NHL 2023-24 Season

[PerreaultForever]

18 minutes ago, OverPowerYou said:

Even though the penguins will catch up to us with a win, we need a penguins win 

Penguins up 4-1 and dominating as I type this. Not sure it's good though. Penguins could pass us soon. I liked them better when they were in their post Guentzel funk and not trying. 

[Thorner]

1 hour ago, Crusader1969 said:

Eichel with great individual effort puts Knights up 2-1 

Devils down. Islanders down. Wings down.

Like I was saying… there’s hope here for like a cutoff at 89 points or something 

Actually yes, if the Caps lose tonight the current projected cutoff would be 89 points

9–3-2 gets us in the playoffs probably.

Edited March 17 by Thorny

[OverPowerYou]

24 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Penguins up 4-1 and dominating as I type this. Not sure it's good though. Penguins could pass us soon. I liked them better when they were in their post Guentzel funk and not trying. 

The good thing is we play the penguins, red wings, capitals and devils at least 1 more time. It may be grim but not as grim as we think 

[Wyldnwoody44]

2 minutes ago, OverPowerYou said:

The good thing is we play the penguins, red wings, capitals and devils at least 1 more time. It may be grim but not as grim as we think 

Win all 4 and ok, maybe. 

But after the season and the last game, color me skeptical. 

[Thorner]

5 minutes ago, OverPowerYou said:

The good thing is we play the penguins, red wings, capitals and devils at least 1 more time. It may be grim but not as grim as we think 

These teams lose all the time it’s more about finding a way to win 9 more than winning those specific games. If they don’t drop them to us they will drop them to someone else the next day 

If they pick up any 20 points out of the 28 remaining the have a good shot 

Edited March 18 by Thorny

[repster]

Don’t overlook the Flyers as a candidate to fall back.  They have a very tough schedule.  I expect them to be on a 7 game losing streak 5 games from now.

[Thorner]

7 minutes ago, repster said:

Don’t overlook the Flyers as a candidate to fall back.  They have a very tough schedule.  I expect them to be on a 7 game losing streak 5 games from now.

If Philly totally tanked it would help, but Islanders would get their spot in the division so we’d still have to ensure we are ahead of Detroit and Washington 

basically it would prevent us from having to catch the islanders specifically but I’m not sure if they are the favourite at this point 

Edited March 18 by Thorny

[Crusader1969]

29 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

Win all 4 and ok, maybe. 

But after the season and the last game, color me skeptical. 

They definitely don't need to win all 4 

I would think 5 out of 8 points would be good.   Assuming the teams around them keep floundering 

[OverPowerYou]

One of the most memorable Sabres seasons was our last playoff season in 2011 where we spent the last 2 weeks racing to 7th place. Each game was a nail biter. Glad we are back there. 

[Thorner]

7 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

They definitely don't need to win all 4 

I would think 5 out of 8 points would be good.   Assuming the teams around them keep floundering 

A win against Seattle and Detroit losing to Pittsburgh is worth just as much as beating Detroit head to head. If we win any 10 games we would have a reasonable shot of making it, regardless of the 4 we lose 

Those teams are simply losing a bunch of games right now 

If we win the amount of games we need it’ll likely get us in regardless of which games 

One thing you can’t do is look past Sidney Crosby and his leadership and ability. That’s the only team that actually is individually scary imo. There’s a Rushmore talent on that squad who rounds out his all around game for every point that erodes away with age. 

Edited March 18 by Thorny

[Second Line Center]

So no one wants the 8th seed except probably Crosby.   Everyone lost today.  
 

5 points out of 8th with 14 to play.

Not worrying about tiebreakers but points left and likely points needed to stay ahead of us if we get say 22 out of 28 of our points left:
 

Points left for Caps - 32 (18)

Points left for Isles - 30 (19)

Points left for Detroit - 28 (18)
 

 

The good news is they all stink.   
 

Edited March 18 by Second Line Center

[thewookie1]

Why does this playoff race feel like less of a Nascar race and more of a collection of geriatrics trying to get to the bingo table.

[K-9]

9 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

Why does this playoff race feel like less of a Nascar race and more of a collection of geriatrics trying to get to the bingo table.

[PerreaultForever]

21 hours ago, Second Line Center said:

So no one wants the 8th seed except probably Crosby.  
 

imo this gets added to the improbability of Sabres making it pile. They had a drop with the Guentzel trade. I'd assume they felt the GM had given up on the season so they did to, but Crosby is a leader and he don't take that as acceptable so he's got them back on it and, although they are not that good, they have the kind of veterans who know how to win big games and so they might be dangerous down the stretch. 

That's one more team added to the mix imo so if Philly and Detroit both keep dropping the old guys in Pittsburgh and Washington as well can't be counted out. 

[shrader]

23 hours ago, repster said:

Don’t overlook the Flyers as a candidate to fall back.  They have a very tough schedule.  I expect them to be on a 7 game losing streak 5 games from now.

And then there’s this. They’re stuck with Johansen because he says he’s hurt. 

[SwampD]

On 3/17/2024 at 6:17 PM, Buffalonill said:

Hopefully we're not that team aka Arizona that pays 4m+ for role players 

 

Good player But hopefully buffalo Gets a bigger impact player 

Victor Olofsson says hello.

[French Collection]

Caps look like a winner vs Calgary tonight.

[Thorner]

31 minutes ago, French Collection said:

Caps look like a winner vs Calgary tonight.

They do. 

Picked a bad time for us for them to string a few together.

One saving grace here is their schedule is tough. And I mean TOUGH. The opponents are hard but it’s more than that. They have a stretch as follows:

Road - Home - Road - Home - *Road - Home - Road 

*represents a back to back. Back to back with travel.

In comparison the Sabres, one time, have to come home for a single game, before heading back out on road 

Edited March 19 by Thorny

[Porous Five Hole]

8 minutes ago, Thorny said:

They do. 

Picked a bad time for us for them to string a few together.

One saving grace here is their schedule is tough. And I mean TOUGH. The opponents are hard but it’s more than that. They have a stretch as follows:

Road - Home - Road - Home - *Road - Home - Road 

*represents a back to back. Back to back with travel.

In comparison the Sabres, one time, have to come home for a single game, before heading back out on road 

The Sabres also get the Caps twice at home in April.  

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, Porous Five Hole said:

The Sabres also get the Caps twice at home in April.  

Not sure if home is an advantage but yes 

[Porous Five Hole]

1 minute ago, Thorny said:

Not sure if home is an advantage but yes 

lol I thought about that before I hit submit

[PerreaultForever]

2 hours ago, French Collection said:

Caps look like a winner vs Calgary tonight.

I can bet you Caps are looking at that thinking we got this. 

[ska-T Palmtown]

So tonight we cheer for the BJs, Hurricanes, and ... NJ? Pitt? Anything but OT?

(After being lazy, I looked - I think we cheer for NJ. If they win, they are still 1 pt behind us with same games played. Pitty, with a win, would be same points with a game in hand pending the outcome of our game.)

Edited March 19 by ska-T Chitown

[CallawaySabres]

59 minutes ago, ska-T Chitown said:

So tonight we cheer for the BJs, Hurricanes, and ... NJ? Pitt? Anything but OT?

(After being lazy, I looked - I think we cheer for NJ. If they win, they are still 1 pt behind us with same games played. Pitty, with a win, would be same points with a game in hand pending the outcome of our game.)

I think we want NJ, they look awful right now and Pitt seems to have some fire.

[thewookie1]

4 hours ago, ska-T Chitown said:

So tonight we cheer for the BJs, Hurricanes, and ... NJ? Pitt? Anything but OT?

(After being lazy, I looked - I think we cheer for NJ. If they win, they are still 1 pt behind us with same games played. Pitty, with a win, would be same points with a game in hand pending the outcome of our game.)

We also need Toronto begrudgingly enough. If Philly keeps falling, it can eliminate 1 of the Metro teams from being a problem.