Penguins/NHL
Expect the Unexpected?
Anybody who thinks the Penguins season ended Saturday night hasn’t been paying attention to the rest of the field. No one should be surprised if the Penguins win out, get some Steelers luck in getting in or completely flame out. Anything’s on the table with this group. Also, no one should also be surprised if someone takes home the final wildcard spot with under 90 points and three other franchises are like ‘how didn’t we get in’. When you have so many teams involved that have been plagued with so much inconsistent play, expect anything to play out over the final three days of the regular season. The Flyers who looked dead days ago getting in with 89 points even wouldn’t be a stunner. That’s how wild this final East race is with the amount of mediocrity among the teams in the mix.
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Washington Capitals | 87 Pts, 30 RW, 34 ROW | 4/15 vs BOS; 4/16 @ PHI |
Playoff Odds: 30% | Washington with a -40 Goal Differential, controls their destiny. What a year it is. Win out in any combination and they are in. Problem is the schedule. Washington, though, has played well against the Bruins this season, going 1-0-1, outscoring Boston 5-3 in the two meetings. The Bruins need a win tonight to clinch the Atlantic Division.
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Detroit Red Wings | 87 pts, 27 RW, 37 ROW | 4/15 vs MTL; 4/16 @ MTL |
Playoffs Odds: 33% | The models like the Red Wings because of the weakest strength of schedule. Detroit finishes season with a home and home series vs the Montreal Canadiens. But, again going 2-0 is no sure thing for the Red Wings with their goaltending and they’ve lost 7 of their last 10 games, going 3-4-3 during that span. This isn’t a club necessarily playing their best hockey right now.
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Pittsburgh Penguins | 86 Pts, 31 RW, 34 ROW | 4/15 vs NSH; 4/17 @ NYI
Playoff Odds: 24% | A loss in regulation tonight vs Nashville and any combination of a win from the Capitals or Detroit Red Wings eliminates the Penguins from playoff contention. Three points ahead of Vegas, Nashville who already clinched a playoff spot, would clinch the first wildcard spot with a point tonight and avoid Dallas in Round 1 so they have a lot to play for in their season finale. There is a scenario tonight where the Penguins could enter Tuesday controlling To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
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Philadelphia Flyers | 87 Pts, 30 RW, 34 ROW | 4/16 vs WSH
Playoff Odds: 18% | Regardless of tonight’s outcomes, the Flyers will still be alive for a playoff spot for Tuesday night’s season finale vs the Capitals.
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3rd Place Clinching Scenario: Any combination of a win tonight vs the New Jersey Devils and the New York Islanders will clinch 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division. The Islanders, though, could still theortically miss the playoffs if they lost out in regulation or even went 0-1-1. If the Islanders ended the season tied with the Penguins @ 90 points or the Washington Capitals with 91 pts, they would lose the tiebreaker to either team. They would also lose a tiebreaker against the Red Wings for final wildcard spot if the team two teams finished tied with 90 or 91 points.
Post Penguins – Bruins Fallout
You can only put a band aid on for so long. What we saw from the Penguins through the first 65 games is more of who they are than the great 7-0-3 run they put together. Seeing atrocious defensive play away from the puck, giving up a shorthanded goal, ect, in the Bruins loss was just a matter of time to creep up again as it did in the third period of the Red Wings game where the Penguins being such an older team.
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There was evidence prior to Saturday night that maybe the Penguins got everything they could out of Alex Nedeljkovic. Even early saves he was making, he looked like a goaltender who isn’t tracking or seeing the puck well and that has gone back to the Tampa Bay game. He probably should have been pulled after the second goal. Tristan Jarry, though, looked cold as you’d expect. The only reason to go with Alex Nedeljkovic tonight is Pittsburgh’s winning percentage with him this season compared to Tristan Jarry and that’s how Mike Sullivan basically answered To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
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The third period of the Boston Game highlighted the failed Reilly Smith trade in a nutshell. 4-3 game after Drew O’Connor scoring the goal of his career, moments later Pittsburgh gets a rush attempt and Lars Eller makes a great cross-ice pass for a Reilly Smith chance in tight and in typical Smith fashion he doesn’t come to close to burying it. Than not too long after, he’s slow moving down to cover Geekie in the slot and its game over as Bruins go up 5-3. What a massive drop off in production the Penguins got this season from Jason Zucker to Reilly Smith. It’s not even the lack of production from Smith, he’s just a cone on the ice at times. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
— Lineup Buzz: Outside of Jeff Carter, Mike Sullivan has no faith in the Penguins 4th line. Jansen Harkins is healthy, To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
