Ottawa (X2)
Montreal (X2)
Toronto
Boston (X2)
That's what we have left.
In that stretch, we realistically can lose just one game. In fact, Mirtle says we need to go 5-1-1 and I think that's being very generous. I think losing a game in overtime, especially to Boston or Toronto, would effectively kill this season, but those numbers don't take into account which opponent the games are against.
The last seven games are all within the Northeast division, something the scheduling gods thought would provide us with an exciting finish to the season. Now while they are right, it will also provide me with an untimely death when my heart explodes from watching the Bruins sometime this week. I guess you take the bad with the good.
Because of this unique finish to the season, Mirtle has put together the divisional records for each team. Where do the Sabres rank? Ironically, 9th, with a mediocre record of .500 (11-11-3). That pace isn't going to cut it, and if you believe the numbers the next few weeks will be very, very frustrating.
Still, things are so tight and everyone is playing everyone, so who really knows how things will shake out throughout the conference? We could be looking at a completely different playoff picture by this time next week. Will the Sabres be in it? Maybe not, but you can't tell me this isn't exciting.
If you want something "exciting" to watch, Versus will have Pens/Isles on at 7 tonight. Crosby may be back, but either way Pittsburgh is flying as of late and are a very fun team to watch. The Isles are out of the playoffs but have a kid prospect I've heard is some fun. There is nothing of importance for us to worry about, so why not just watch hockey for the sake of hockey? It seems we never get to do that...
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Sportsclubstats says the Sabres have a 68 per cent chance of making the playoffs if they go 5-1-1, so it's by no means a sure thing unless Philadelphia or Boston really goes in the tank.
ReplyDeleteBuffalo essentially has to get four points out of the games with the Bruins.
Dr. Mirtle,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the Sportsclubstats link, I had forgotten about that site and it explains things a bit more.
The last two against Boston are very, very big. The frustrating thing about it is that we have already given them 4 points this year through 3rd period collapses.
Again, thanks for reading, we're all big fans of your work.