NHL Games to watch 2/1/12

There's not many games tonight, but there's two games tonight that could have big implications on the playoffs down the stretch.

Washington Capitals vs Florida Panthers
This is a game that could have huge ramifications in the Southeast Division. Washington is only 1 point ahead of Florida who have a game in hand. Should Florida win tonight, they would be in the driver's seat going down the stretch and Washington would slip into the #8 seed. If Washington can get a clean win, they would be three points clear while an overtime or shootout win would only give them a 2 point lead and Florida would still have a game in hand. If the Caps win, they would also have gotten a possible 5 out of 6 points with Ovechkin out of the lineup.

Pittsburgh Penguins vs Toronto Maple Leafs
Last night, these two teams battled in Pittsburgh with the Pens coming back from a 4-1 deficit to pull out the win in the shootout. For Toronto, this has gotta hurt as they were ready to walk out of the Consol Energy Center with 2 points and prevent Pittsburgh from getting any. They have a chance for retribution tonight. Look for Phil Kessel to get on the scoreboard tonight. The Maple Leafs really have to take 2 points tonight if they want to make the playoffs.

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.

NHL Divisional realignment

So the Atlanta Thrashers are now officially the Winnipeg Jets. The NHL has decided not to re-align the divisions this year, which will result in three trips to Winnipeg for the Caps. However, should the NHL decide to re-align, how would it look? Here's some potential ideas being thrown around.

So long ATL, hello Winnipeg!

It's finally happened, Winnipeg tentatively has a team once again. The move is not official until the sale and relocation has been approved by the owners, but I'm pretty sure it's going to happen. They will most likely be renamed the Jets since the NHL owns the name and would probably give it to them if they asked. In this case, the Phoenix Coyotes and relocated Atlanta Thrashers would share the history, much like how the present day Baltimore Ravens pay tribute to the Colts who left the city as well as several other teams in other sports. I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I'll probably come back tomorrow and post some. In any case, right now the division alignments are screwed. The NHL is not going to change the divisions for the upcoming season, and as a result, my Washington Capitals are going to Winnipeg (about 1500 miles) 3 times a year, while the Jets are going to be traveling into the Southeast division for a total of 12 games. Now, obviously, this doesn't make any sense. Why won't the NHL re-align? Well, the problem is that the Phoenix Coyotes are also at risk to be moved out of the south. As a result, re-aligning the divisions in back to back years would be a mess and make the NHL look bad. Although our fans might be upset, it actually looks kind of ridiculous if teams are swapping divisions every year. With Winnipeg taking the Coyotes, odds are Phoenix might end up moving to Ontario or Quebec or some random city that used to have a hockey team (Kansas City anyone?) Regardless, here's how it looks now and how it probably will look after the 2011-2012 season.

Looking back at Saturday's playoff games...

As I begin writing this, I've seen four NHL games today, still in the middle of the Sharks and Kings game... maybe the Sharks will come back. I'm sure Dan will post something about the Sharks at some point, but now there's 14 NHL teams left in the chase for Lord Stanley's Cup. I'm not gonna lie, but I took a nap after the Caps victory because watching that exhausted me. I'm sure most hockey fans would agree that it is quite exhausting to ride the wave of emotions in a hockey game, especially when you win the series.

Looking ahead to Saturday's games

EDIT: I just realized that the first game started at noon instead of 3:00PM.. silly me..
So there's four games today and three of them could end the series if the home team wins. The one exception is the Bruins-Habs rivalry which would be surprising if it ended before game 6.

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.