wjag Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 With less than 20 to go, it seems like Ottawa has the easiest schedule left between the 3 teams chasing for the lead in the EC. I looked at their schedules and made up my own toughness formulation based on: Tier 1 Team >= 35 wins Tier 2 Team >= 30 wins and <=34 wins Tier 3 Team >= 20 wins and <=29 wins Tier 4 Team = Bottom Feeder Ottawa has Tier 1 = 2, Tier 2 = 11, Tier 3 = 3 and Tier 4 = 1 Buffalo has Tier 1 = 4, Tier 2 = 11, Tier 3 = 3, Tier 4 = 1 NJ has Tier 1= 4, Tier 2 = 10, Tier 3 =1, Tier 4 = 3 And here is a pretty telling stat: Number of back-to-back games Buf - 5 Ott - 2 NJ - 1 Finally here is the Home and Away numbers Buf - 9H, 10A Ott - 7H, 11A NJ - 8H, 10A So the first question with Ottawa behind by 9 now, can they make that up in their remaining 18 games. I wouldn't have thought so, but them sweeping Carolina in a home and home has me rethinking that. Ottawa is one of the hottest teams since Christmas in the NHL. The second question is with a mere 3 points lead can Buffalo withstand the charge of the Devils? Buf and NJ have to play two in Buffalo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grinreaper Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 And the Sabres have a game in hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mphs mike Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 In a word - absolutely! Whether anyone will is another question altogether. It depends in large part on who is in our lineup for the games and how quickly injured players get back to game speed & condition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BetweenThePipes00 Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 Obviously NJ can catch them since they have 2 games against them, but ... It's cliche, but the old "If they just play .500 hockey, we need to go ..." is usually pretty telling ... If the Sabres pick up just 19 of their remaining 38 points, they finish with 108 ... That means NJ needs to go something like 11-6-1 to get to 109 ... certainly possible ... Ottawa would need to go 14-3-1 ... much tougher ... And again, that is assuming the Sabres go like 9-9-1 ... if they kept up their season pace, they would go like 13-5-1 and finish with 116 ... for NJ to get to 117, they need to go 15-2-1 ... But again, those two head to head games are HUGE ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corp000085 Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 absolutely, and it scares me more every day... however, if the sabres continue to play their game, and begin to get a steady stream of healthy players back, they'll be fine. this team has never been about looking at how others are doing, and i'll keep it that way. just beat the habs tomorrow. that's all i really give anything about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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