NHL Games to watch 2/6/12

There's only one game to really watch tonight, unless you wanna see if James Reimer will continue his shutout streak, then go watch the Oilers play the Maple Leafs

Detroit Red Wings vs Phoenix Coyotes
This is probably the only game where both teams are jockeying for playoff position. The Red Wings come in with a huge goaltending problem now that Jimmy Howard will miss the next two weeks and the Coyotes have a chance to get within two points of the 8th and final playoff spot out in the West. The Red Wings aren't even going to their back-up, they're going to their call-up Joey MacDonald. The Coyotes will counter with Mike Smith who will be looking for his first win against Detroit this season. This is the final match-up between the two teams and the Coyotes would like to end it on a high note.

NHL after the All-Star Break

Looking at the NHL Standings going into the All-Star break, they look like this.

Eastern Conference
1. New York Rangers - 66pts
2. Boston Bruins - 64pts
3. Washington Capitals - 55pts
4. Philadelphia Flyers - 63pts
5. Pittsburgh Penguins - 60pts
6. Ottawa Senators - 60pts
7. Florida Panthers - 55pts
8. New Jersey Devils -55pts
9. Toronto Maple Leafs - 55pts
10. Winnipeg Jets - 50pts
11. Tampa Bay Lightning - 46pts
12. Montreal Canadiens - 45pts
13. New York Islanders - 45pts
14. Buffalo Sabres - 45pts
15. Carolina Hurricanes - 45pts

Western Conference
1. Detroit Red Wings - 67pts
2. Vancouver Canucks - 64pts
3. San Jose Sharks - 60pts
4. St. Louis Blues - 65pts
5. Nashville Predators - 64pts
6. Chicago Blackhawks - 64pts
7. Los Angeles Kings - 58pts
8. Minnesota Wild - 55pts
9. Colorado Avalanche - 54pts
10. Dallas Stars - 52pts
11. Calgary Flames - 52pts
12. Phoenix Coyotes - 52pts
13. Anaheim Ducks - 43pts
14. Edmonton Oilers - 41pts
15. Columbus Blue Jackets - 32pts

Breaking down the Eastern Conference
To be honest, there's no team that's actually out of it yet. 10 points separate the 8th place team and last place team and the Atlantic Division is going to have a lot of games down the stretch to beat up on each other which may end up costing one of the four currently in playoff positioning to fall out the chase for Lord Stanley, most likely the New Jersey Devils. The Canadiens, Islanders, Sabres, and Hurricanes have an uphill road to climb, but one of them could slip into the #8 seed. I like the Rangers and Bruins to win their divisions, but Pittsburgh and Philly will make a hard push for the title, but with Philly's goaltending problems and the Penguins' inability to maintain healthy (although Letang is now back), I doubt they can maintain healthy the rest of the season. Washington is in trouble with trying to win their division this season in what has mostly been an up-and-down season along with Backstrom and Green being on the shelf and Ovie suspended. They had a great win over the Bruins before the break, but they can't expect to maintain this the rest of the season. Florida has a great team they bought this off-season and have a very good chance to win the division if they can maintain their pace. Florida, New Jersey, and Toronto are all tied with 55 pts, but likely only 1 of them will make the playoffs. Ottawa has had strong play of late from Craig Anderson and has gotten up to 6th in the rankings, but Craig Anderson is going to have to carry them for the rest of the season to get to the playoffs. (Didn't he do that a few years back with the Avalanche?) Tampa Bay ran all the way to the Conference finals on the back of Dwayne Roloson, but now they're going to have to rely on Garon if they want to get back. My eight teams to make the playoffs (in order)
1. Boston Bruins
2. New York Rangers
3. Washington Capitals
4. Pittsburgh Penguins
5. Philadelphia Flyers
6. Florida Panthers
7. Tampa Bay Lightning
8. Ottawa Senators

Breaking down the Western Conference
The Western Conference is pretty much dominated by the central division. The Blue Jackets are definitely out, the Oilers, after Khabibulin went to crap has blown any chance of a playoff spot this season along with a ton of injuries and suspensions (Andy Sutton anyone?) They'll be a good team, but not this season. Anaheim could have a shot if their cards fall right, but four spots are going to the central division for the chase for the cup. The Red Wings are going to win the division, they have the best record at home this season (20-2-1!) and have no deficiencies on the team. The Canucks will most likely win the NW seeing as how they've always won it. The Sharks will probably win the Pacific thanks to their only challenge being the Kings who can't find a way to score goals. The Blues, Predators, and Blackhawks are ALL going to get spots because they're that damn good. I don't think the Wild will get that last spot because of up and down play by their goalies and injuries. The Kings will most likely stay in the playoffs because Justin Williams has been on fire as of late and the Kings are finally starting to score. The Flames (aka lames) just can't get their act together and the Coyotes are where they are due to Mike Smith being injured. Here's my projections for the final standings.
1. Detroit Red Wings
2. Vancouver Canucks
3. San Jose Sharks
4. Chicago Blackhawks
5. St. Louis Blues
6. Dallas Stars
7. Nashville Predators
8. Los Angeles Kings

I'll have more posts about games every night for the rest of the season that will impact the playoff standings. Also, I have to break up the Fantasy Hockey rankings because there are just too many players and I have been away for too long unfortunately.

Sharks Take Commanding 3-0 Series Lead

The San Jose Sharks are looking good after the first three games of their series with the Red Wings.

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Analyzing the Red Wings - Coyotes series

So, the first series that ended was on 4/20. (Insert joke here) Anyways, the Red Wings swept the Yotes 4-0 and just from analyzing the series, there were a lot of things coming in that was in the favor of the Red Wings, but most importantly, the one thing that would've kept the Coyotes in the series didn't show up. You'll see what I mean.

Looking back at Wednesday's Playoff Games...

So last night had some crazy games, double overtimes, a team got swept, there were some high-scoring games and oh yeah, Ryan Miller came to play! While I didn't catch the games, I can tell you why each team won. It's just a numbers game.