carpandean

I was thinking that if you put these teams together, you could make a nice AHL team.

If they win tonight, I'm going to break my computer screen repeatedly smashing my face onto that.

That's good to know.

They are. They have a (9 - game-in-hand) lead on Boston and (13 - game-in-hand) lead on Florida with 8 games left. They may be playing poorly, but neither team behind them is playing really well, either. Ottawa is playing well, but they are currently the 8th-place team.

I'm still worried about Carolina (could be eliminated tonight) and Toronto falling below us, so ...

Nolan was rewarding him for showing up early by trying to get him the hat trick. Did I mention the hat trick? Yeah, he got one.

Unfortunately, 99% of casual fans won't know that and will think it a misogynistic term, on par with the "Peaches" and "Belles" in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Down by 1 with under a minute left, the Sabres pull Hackett and score. On the faceoff, Matt Ellis pressures the Coyotes' D-man, who then falls, creating a 2-on-1 with Ellis and Hodgson. Cody goes top shelf for the shocking, come-from-behind regulation win.

I couldn't possibly go to this game in person. It's an extension of the "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" rule. Very few of these players are guaranteed a spot with the team in the long-run, so cheering against them in person wouldn't be fair. Most fan who actually go, likewise, probably won't boo them or cheer for the Coyotes, so I don't expect a lot of that, but I imagine that there will be a larger-than-normal number of empty seats.

That's 8 points in the last 6 games for the Oilers. Hope they keep it up, so that we can at least stop worrying about 28th (1 in 9 odds of McEichel vs. 1 in 3 for 29th.) They've got some tougher games coming up.

Oilers blew a three-goal lead, but our boy Roy won it on the PP in the third. Two points and an ROW. :thumbsup:

Coyotes with an unexpected OT win (still an ROW) against Detroit. That certainly helps the cause.

29, 21, 29, 27, 7, 8, 26, 25, 9 Not conceding, but those are the current ranks of the Sabres' remaining opponents.

Would be tough to lose him, but if taking him out allows for a real quarterback to come in, then they'd have to seriously consider it. The drop on D wouldn't be nearly as big as the rise on offense.

No doubt that Ted is playing a "bend, but don't break" system that lets teams take lots of shots from the outside, but limits their prime chances from the middle and in close. It's their only hope. They aren't going for possession or Corsi or anything like that, because they couldn't hope to compete that way, but rather for survival and the hope that they can capitalize on the rare PP, odd-man rush or garbage goal. Keeps games close (annoyingly so in the case of OT/SO's), but over the season hasn't won much. Unfortunately, it won't have to in order to finish out of 30th.

Stafford was even more productive with the Sabres in 2010-11 (over the whole season, but especially during the middle of the season) with centers like Roy and the Tin Man than he is in Winnipeg. Then, he signed his contract. Maybe this time will be different, but I wouldn't bet money on it.

What's ridiculous is that the game was tied late despite that kind of differential. Admittedly, though, the Stars did take a lot of shots from 20 feet away that hit (were "blocked" by) Sabres players.

Might not is an understatement. As I've said before, the tank race is actually for Eichel with a bonus shot at McDavid. 30th gets the 2nd pick (Eichel) almost surely (not the precise mathematical a.s., but 80%), 29th gets the 3rd pick most likely (66.5%) and 28th gets the fourth pick more likely than not (55%). Each has a shot at McDavid (20%, 13.5% and 11.5%, respectively), but there's a 55% chance that someone outside of that group gets him.

Loved the result and applaud the effort. I did a crazy, freaky, throwing all four limbs in the air dance when the clock hit 0:00.

While I doubt that it is fixed, I'm not sure why something that important isn't done under the watchful eye of KPMG Pete Marwick (or the like), just as the NY lottery drawing is.

These. There likely isn't much doubt that McDavid will and should be #1 and, likewise, Eichel will and should be #2. At this point, with only a three point lead, a game-in-hand and two head-to-heads, finishing 29th is quite possible (28th is still not ruled out either), which would give them a 66.5% chance of having to pick someone else. He would be smart to scout the remaining choices (as well as players in their system) and the most convenient place to do it is in Erie. I will be pissed if they manage to hold get the #2 pick, only to trade down.

Wouldn't matter. If the Sabres went 1-7-2, then they would have 47+4 = 51 points, while the Coyotes would have at least 50+2 = 52 points. Now, if they go 2-8-0 with both wins coming in regulation to the Coyotes, then Arizona could finish lower (51 vs. 50 if they lose out). If some combination were to leave them tied in points, then the Coyotes currently have a four ROW lead in the first tie-breaker. If the Sabres manage to win four more in regulation than the Coyotes, then I don't see them finishing with as few points as them (would put them at 55+ points), especially if two of those ROW are the head-to-head games. So, for all practical purposes, I would say that the Sabres will have the tie-breaker, if it matters. I don't see the Coyotes picking up more than 3 points in their seven non-head-to-head games, so assuming two regulation Sabres wins in the h-t-h's, they can't afford to pick up more than a point or two (if even that) in their remaining 8 n-h-t-h games. I hope that I'm surprised in the h-t-h's (even if that just means two OT/SO wins), because otherwise they're probably screwed.

I laughed about this the other day when I saw some clips of lacrosse goals. Their goalies looked ridiculous kicking at the ball. Could you imagine if NHL goalies only wore basic (skater) shin pads on their legs and they made the goals twice as tall?