Taro T

Been saying for a while that there's a very real possibility he starts the year in Ra-cha-cha. Would be surprised if the Sabres carry 14 healthy Fs next season. Teams keep up 8 D-men & only 1 spare F because it is easier to organize drills w/ 4 full D-pairings & only rotatingn1 F through than to have 3 pairs rotating an extra D through & 2 Fs through. The standard has been 13-8 for several seasons now.

They've been doing the Mixhalo thing most, if not the entire, season.

Draft order goes pretty much off RS points w/ the reverse of RS tie Breakers for when 2 teams tie for a draft pick slot. I.e., The team w/ fewer RS wins gets the better pick if they both have the same # of points. Picks 1 & 2 go to the lottery winners (if they were in slots 1-11 or 1-12 prelottery - teams can only move up 10 slots max). The rest of slots 1-16 go in reverse order of points for the 16 non-playoff teams. Slots 17-28 go to the losers of rounds 1 & 2 in reverse order of finish with any of the 4 division winners slotted at the back of the order. Slots 29 & 30 go to the semifinal losers. Slot 31 goes to the SC loser. Slot 32 goes to the SC winner.

Nashville IS in the playoffs because the 9th place team in the West can only at best tie them in the standings and tie them for the 1st end of season tiebreaker. They both can get to 95 points and 35 regulation wins. But Vegas can only get to 40 R/OT wins & Nashville has 41. R/OT wins is the 2nd EoS tiebreaker, so the Preds are in. (They MIGHT win on total points &/or RWs, but they DO win on R/OT Ws.) I've simply been explaining WHY Nashville can correctly claim they've clinched a playoff spot when a casual glance at the standings says Vegas can still catch them. (They can, but they can't. 😉 )

The post you quoted was made while the Vegas game was still being played. They lost in a SO, so ... And yes, they have at least the 2nd tie breaker on Vegas. Vegas can catch them on the 1st.

You sure about that? According to NHL.com Vancouver is beating Seattle at the end of 2 tonight. They can still get to 93 while Vegas is only at 91.

Not necessarily. Dallas can still pass Nashville.

Yep. HtH is the 4th tie breaker behind Regulation Wins, R/OT Wins, & plain old wins.

Yes, they are. 1 spot left. Those 2 points left in Buffalo are going to haunt them.

Could say the same of Vegas. 😉

Nashville is out of reach. They've got at least the 2nd tiebreaker clinched. (They currently have the 1st one too, but Vegas can tie that.) Vegas needs to take all 4 remaining while Dallas never even makes it to OT.

Never would've made it past the 2nd shooter. Nobody shot wide. 😉 Never would've made it past the 2nd shooter. Nobody shot wide. 😉

1 more point won by Dallas or 1 more point lost by Vegas & the Sabres have either the 15th or 16th pick minus a wild lottery draw.

Nasty move by Heiskanen!

Thompson certainly isn't Lehner. 😞

If Vegas loses in OT, Nashville & LA are in. Dallas would need 1 more point to clinch. If Vegas wins in OT, Nashville & LA each need 1 point or Vegas to lose 1 to clinch. Dallas would be 2 points up w/ both teams having 2 to play and Vegas w/ the tiebreaker. So, they'd need 3 of the 8 available points to go their way. Vegas would need 6 of the available 8 to go their way.

Detroit shut out by TO. The Sabres getting to OT in either of their last 2 clinches a 5th place division finish. Baby steps.

Apparently Tkachuk tied it for Calgary at the end of regulation vs Nashville. Had Nashville won in regulation, they would've clinched a playoff spot regardless of how the last 6 minutes of the Dallas game went. EDIT: Nashville blew it in OT. Picked up a point. Any Vegas loss gets the Preds into the playoffs.

Robertson ties it again.

You giving Lehner partial credit for Carrier's goal because if he didn't go to LTIR Will wouldn't be in the lineup? (Guess not. You said 3, but they've got 4 former Sabres. 😉 )

True. And a few years back people didn't sweat it too much when St. Louis snuck into the playoffs. Eh, no biggie, pick 17'll essentially be the same as pick 15. Except that pick didn't end up 17-ish. It ended up the absolute last pick in round 1. As long as the Kin-ig-hits have life, that pick can't be depended upon to be comparable to pick 16. MHO.

FTFY. 😉

Agree that 16'll set up out west when it eventually gets added. Can't see them doing 3-5's when they've just run w/ 8 & 6. Expecting it'll be 8-7 for now. Will be interesting if the 4th West playoff spot is still a Wild Card or if they say 8-7 is close enough the the West doesn't have a significantly unfair advantage any more.

With God as my witness, thought there were 7 teams in the West. (Where's the d'oh smiley when you really need it?) 🍺

With that making 16 teams, hopefully the league is done expanding for a while. The Bandits WILL lose somebody good in the expansion draft. And Saturday is the RS finale which very well could be a preview of the Eastern Conference Championship as the Bandits are locked into home field throughout the playoffs & the Rock are locked into 2nd in the conference.