Things You May Have Wondered That I Wonder as Well

by Ryan

Doesn't it feel like we should be playing a hockey game tonight?

Instead it's an open Friday night with hunting shows on Versus even if you wanted to catch a game. Jesus guys, you have nothing else worth watching, why not run a game on Friday as well? Heck, if you don't want to run a studio crew just simulcast a TSN feed. There isn't a game on tonight, but for the love of god this is the stretch run. Enough of the bull riding, show me some jockeying for playoff position.

In any event, since we don't play until tomorrow I'll save any actual preview until then. In the meantime, let's update you on some things as well as take you around the Conference.

What Vanek Said Part Two- Since "The Garuantee" on February 17th the Sabres have played nine games. In that span Vanek has done the following: 5G, 6A, 11P, +1, 32 SOG. Not bad at all. Although he has gone pointless the past three games I would still be willing to say he has played well. Lots of Sabres have gone cold so far this month and Vanek still has the ability to go Atlas on us.

Officiating has been a major part of the last two games, and I haven't said much about it either way. I really hate jumping on officials because over the course of the season you get calls that go both ways. Booth reviews are still a mystery to us all, especially now that the call goes directly to Toronto. Who knows what kind of shenanigans go on up there. However, I thought this article by Adam Proteau was nicely done.

Goose has been quiet lately, but he quietly crept past his career high in points (currently 27) and is on the cusp of tying a career high in goals (9). It's not really a big deal and won't affect his RFA status much (STAND DOWN, Kevin Lowe!) but since he is the Namesake I thought it was worth bringing up.

Steve Christie actually did retire with the Bills, giving us one last chance to post this:


Does anyone else miss Mike Ryan? I know I said before that I was "done with the Mike Ryan experiment", but I think we miss that occasional burst we would see from him. Even though he seems to only be capable of straight lines at that speed, it was nice to have the option on the forecheck or just streaking down the wing while lines were changing.

About those playoff hopes...

While it seemed like Boston was the team that refused to lose, the Rangers have been the team that doesn't stop earning points. They are 7-0-3 in their last ten, good for 17 points in 10 games. Over that same stretch we are 5-4-1. I'd imagine you can see the problem here.

The somewhat good news is that Boston and Ottawa lost. The bad news is that the Rangers, Flyers, and Hurricanes all won, leaving us three points out of a playoff spot with no games in hand. Sometime this weekend I will make a fancy standings board out of Microsoft Paint, so stay tuned for that.

I don't feel like doing the actual math for this, but if Ottawa never wins again we are in the playoffs. Looking good so far, boys...



It's a whole different view from down here, isn't it?