eball Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Keeps a bit of breathing room between us and NJ -- didn't see a 4-1 home loss coming there, even if TB is hot of late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two or less Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Definetly a good break for the Sabres, but imo the ball is still in our court, if we take care of our buisness, we'll be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inkman Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 I don't care where they finish, as long as it's in the top 8. I find this posturing a little weird and premature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eball Posted February 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 I don't care where they finish, as long as it's in the top 8. I find this posturing a little weird and premature. Not sure I follow you; what's your definition of 'posturing?' It certainly can't be a bad thing to finish 1st in the conference and guarantee home ice throughout, can it? I'm merely pointing out some results that have a favorable impact on the points standings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inkman Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Not sure I follow you; what's your definition of 'posturing?' It certainly can't be a bad thing to finish 1st in the conference and guarantee home ice throughout, can it? I'm merely pointing out some results that have a favorable impact on the points standings. I guess it would be nice, but it's not football. How often does the number one seed even make the finals let alone win a cup? I'll give you an answer, not very. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McJeff215 Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 I guess it would be nice, but it's not football. How often does the number one seed even make the finals let alone win a cup? I'll give you an answer, not very. That actually would be an interesting stat. I'd argue it's probably slightly more often than 1/8th of the time to the finals. -Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjag Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 I watched the TB-NJ game. Give TB their do, they executed the game plan Buffalo couldn't. They played in the offensive zone a good deal of that game. Madden took a puck to the face. He was out there playing but he looked like a stand-in for a horror film. NJ just couldn't keep TB out of their zone. I hope everyone looks at this tape for some hints on how to play the Devils. Once NJ got down, they couldn't shift their game plan into the next gear. And as far as scoreboard watching goes, I'm there. Speculating on what could happen is well within the realm of normal fandom. Teams need to take games one at a time, but we don't. It's what makes the season interesting to me while I wait 5 days between games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eball Posted February 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 I guess it would be nice, but it's not football. How often does the number one seed even make the finals let alone win a cup? I'll give you an answer, not very. The research has already been done. I'm borrowing others' work and take no credit: Number of Cups won by overall seeds since 1987: 1 - 6 Cups 2 - 1 Cup 3 - 4 Cups 4 - 2 Cups 5 - 2 Cups 6 - 2 Cups 7 - 1 Cup 8 - 0 Cups 9 - 1 Cup 10 or lower - 0 Cups So ... You don't want to finish first overall? Pick another seed ... ANY other seed, and you are DECREASING you chances of winning it all by AT LEAST 50%, and that's for the 3 seed which has won 4 times. If you finish in ANY other spot, you are at least 3 times less likely to win. The odds of winning it all are against you no matter what. Being the one team with a 30% chance in a 16-team field is pretty damn good. I'd say finishing #1 overall correlates nicely to winning the Cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjag Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 The research has already been done. I'm borrowing others' work and take no credit: Number of Cups won by overall seeds since 1987: 1 - 6 Cups 2 - 1 Cup 3 - 4 Cups 4 - 2 Cups 5 - 2 Cups 6 - 2 Cups 7 - 1 Cup 8 - 0 Cups 9 - 1 Cup 10 or lower - 0 Cups So ... You don't want to finish first overall? Pick another seed ... ANY other seed, and you are DECREASING you chances of winning it all by AT LEAST 50%, and that's for the 3 seed which has won 4 times. If you finish in ANY other spot, you are at least 3 times less likely to win. The odds of winning it all are against you no matter what. Being the one team with a 30% chance in a 16-team field is pretty damn good. I'd say finishing #1 overall correlates nicely to winning the Cup. The first three seeds are division winners (at least since re-alignment) so they were worthy teams to begin with. No problem understanding that the 3 seed can win, but the two seed is unexplainable. Being number two seems to be the proverbial kiss of death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nfreeman Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 I watched the TB-NJ game. Give TB their do, they executed the game plan Buffalo couldn't. They played in the offensive zone a good deal of that game. Madden took a puck to the face. He was out there playing but he looked like a stand-in for a horror film. NJ just couldn't keep TB out of their zone. I hope everyone looks at this tape for some hints on how to play the Devils. Once NJ got down, they couldn't shift their game plan into the next gear. I will respectfully disagree. I don't think the NJ loss resulted from a lack of ability to execute our gameplan. I think the problem was lack of determination. We didn't spend enough time in NJ's end b/c they just wanted it more than we did. SOG aren't necessarily dispositive, but we were outshot in that game 37-17. It was a disappointing effort. On the other hand, I think we have played much harder in the last 3 wins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jad1 Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 The first three seeds are division winners (at least since re-alignment) so they were worthy teams to begin with. No problem understanding that the 3 seed can win, but the two seed is unexplainable. Being number two seems to be the proverbial kiss of death. The Hurricanes were the 2 seed in the Eastern Conference last season (thanks to the Sabres). Being the #1 seed guarantees that game 7s will be played on home ice. Regardless of the stats for home team wins in game 7s, I'd still rather the Sabres play any of those at HSBC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wjag Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 I will respectfully disagree. I don't think the NJ loss resulted from a lack of ability to execute our gameplan. I think the problem was lack of determination. We didn't spend enough time in NJ's end b/c they just wanted it more than we did. SOG aren't necessarily dispositive, but we were outshot in that game 37-17. It was a disappointing effort. On the other hand, I think we have played much harder in the last 3 wins. Fair enough. NJ carried the play into the Buffalo zone and stayed there. As you indicated we were completely out shot. And when Buffalo tried to get through the blue line, they couldn't. Whether that is lack of determination isn't for me to say. I don't play, I just watch. But that couldn't have been the game plan Lindy had in mind. What TB did yesterday was just the opposite of what Buffalo managed to do. They played the game in the NJ zone for big chunks of time. Maybe it was Madden playing with one eye. They beat Brodeur with some quality shots. That came about because they were able to set up in the zone and play keep away until they fired the puck at the net. The announcers were making a point of saying that this wasn't the same old Devils and that they were capable of coming from behind and overcoming a multi-goal deficit. Well that team never showed up yesterday. In fact, they looked just the opposite to me of a team who couldn't come back. And I liked it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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