NO-GAME DAY(s) - Scoreboard Watching, Tuesday-Friday, March 27-30, 2012

Hoags wrote:

shabbs wrote:Would be nice for the Habs and Leafs to do us a solid this coming Saturday and win their games.

Considering how much trouble the Habs give us I think we can count on them.

The Leafs have to start playing and winning for self respect at some point no ? I figured they'd get a boost from getting a new coach but they seem just as bad if not worse .....

How many of them have two-way or no-way contracts for next year. Self-respect is fine, but playing for an NHL minimum salary has got to be a much better motivator.

wprager wrote:

shabbs wrote:Prior to our next game on Sat... the Caps visit the Bruins on Thursday and the Sabres host the Penguins on Friday. Things could be very tight by the time Saturday rolls around. We'll be the ones with a game in hand by then. Hopefully the Caps and Sabres lose their games this week.

Sens, Caps and Sabres are all playing on Saturday.
- Sens @ Flyers
- Sabres @ Leafs
- Habs @ Caps

Bottome line - we need to keep winning. That is the only way to keep ahead.

So the Sabres will play the Pens on Friday, then travel to Toronto for the Saturday game. So what are the chances that the Leafs do the Sens a favor by beating what will surely be a tire, tired team?

Don't count on the Leafs or Habs for anything. They are where they are for a reason. I fully expect the Sabres and Caps to win those games.

tim1_2 wrote:

wprager wrote:

shabbs wrote:Prior to our next game on Sat... the Caps visit the Bruins on Thursday and the Sabres host the Penguins on Friday. Things could be very tight by the time Saturday rolls around. We'll be the ones with a game in hand by then. Hopefully the Caps and Sabres lose their games this week.

Sens, Caps and Sabres are all playing on Saturday.
- Sens @ Flyers
- Sabres @ Leafs
- Habs @ Caps

Bottome line - we need to keep winning. That is the only way to keep ahead.

So the Sabres will play the Pens on Friday, then travel to Toronto for the Saturday game. So what are the chances that the Leafs do the Sens a favor by beating what will surely be a tire, tired team?

Don't count on the Leafs or Habs for anything. They are where they are for a reason. I fully expect the Sabres and Caps to win those games.

Not sure what the reason is, since they had little trouble beating us.

wprager wrote:
Not sure what the reason is, since they had little trouble beating us.

Habs play very aggressively against us and they're very tight defensively, block a lot of shots and Price is very hard to beat.

Hoags wrote:

wprager wrote:
Not sure what the reason is, since they had little trouble beating us.

Habs play very aggressively against us and they're very tight defensively, block a lot of shots and Price is very hard to beat.

And yet they are at the bottom of the East.

wprager wrote:
And yet they are at the bottom of the East.

We struggle against teams like that, they're just a bad match up for us. We spent all our PPs against Montreal shooting pucks into Josh Gorges' shin pads.

For whatever reason Montreal's game totally neutralizes ours.

For whatever reason, we seem to bonk when we play the bottom feeding losers (Leafs, Habs). It's frustrating, especially against those teams.

shabbs wrote:For whatever reason, we seem to bonk when we play the bottom feeding losers (Leafs, Habs). It's frustrating, especially against those teams.

Why is anyone surprised at this? Why do you think PIT lost to NYI the other night? Why do really good teams lose to really strong teams, year after year? Why do bottom feeder teams look like world-beaters in March?

This is not news or anything different than we see every year. In fact, it's business as usual. It's a matter of teams looking ahead, of underestimating a team or taking a team for granted, it's a team playing with no pressure vs. a team under heavy pressure.

Same old, same old.

We can't afford to look ahead now with Buffalo and Washington right behind us.

Hoags wrote:We can't afford to look ahead now with Buffalo and Washington right behind us.

Washington is far back now.

don't want to spoil the party but montreal coaching staff said they were going to give their young prospects a chance to prove themselves till the end of the season. it might have worked for us last year but judging by the uninspired play of last night i would think it's them trying to secure the 2nd overall.

Big Ev wrote:
Washington is far back now.

4 points back, they have the tiebreaker and they'll have Backstrom back soon. Still too close for my tastes.

Hoags wrote:

Big Ev wrote:
Washington is far back now.

4 points back, they have the tiebreaker and they'll have Backstrom back soon. Still too close for my tastes.

There's 5 games left. Backstrom being back for 3 or 4 games makes no difference to me.

Sens play Philly & NYI this weekend. 2 wins there goes a long way in securing a playoff spot.

Wash plays Boston & Mtl next 2 games. They probably will lose 1 of those games.

Buff plays Pitts & Toronto. I see Buff winning both of those.

With the way Buffalo is playing I can see them winning out the rest of the games. So to stay in 7th -- the Sens can only lose 1 of their last 5 games..

It's between Ottawa & Wash with Wash winning the tiebreaker... so Wash has to win 2 more games than Ottawa during the last 5 game to get in.

Is our magic number 6 or 4 now?

I think it's 4, our magic number was 10 before we beat Pittsburgh and Winnipeg, so I assume with Washington losing last night, we're at 4.

So any combination of 2 wins or 1 win and 1 regulation loss of Washington puts us in.

If Washington goes 5-0, Sens can miss at 3-2. Magic number is 7.

Washington won't make it. Last night's loss sealed their fate.

Magic number for Buffalo is still 8, for Washington is 7.

We're not out of the woods yet.