The Canadiens upcoming schedule will likely decide their playoff fate for this season. Montreal plays Atlanta on Tuesday night, winners of seven of their last 10 games and one of the hotter teams in the conference. But after that, the Canadiens host Tampa Bay, Buffalo and Chicago, three teams who have each won only three of their last 10 games. The Canadiens play those four games by March 31, but Florida plays five the rest of this month. Of those five, three are against pretty hot teams in Carolina, Philadelphia and Ottawa, while the other two are against teams still in the playoff picture in Buffalo and Dallas. The Rangers, meanwhile, play their next game against struggling Minnesota, but then they play the hot Thrashers and finish with seven straight against playoff-positioned clubs (assuming the Canadiens are still in the top-eight come April 7). So the schedule looks like it is favourable to the Habs, but they'll have to make it a point to take advantage of it.
Eastern Conference Playoff Race
Philadelphia Flyers - 4th place, 88 points, 39 wins, 6-4-0
11 games remaining - 5 on road, 6 at home, 4 against playoff teams
Last night – Won 3-1 over Pittsburgh; next game – Tonight vs. New Jersey
Pittsburgh Penguins - 5th place, 86 points, 39 wins, 7-1-2
8 games remaining - 4 on road, 4 at home, 5 against playoff teams
Last night – Lost 3-1 to Philadelphia; next game – Wednesday vs. Calgary
Carolina Hurricanes - 6th place, 85 points, 39 wins, 7-1-2
8 games remaining - 3 on road, 5 at home, 4 against playoff teams
Last night – Did not play; next game – Tonight @ Florida
New York Rangers – 7th place, 84 points, 38 wins, 7-3-0
9 games remaining - 5 on road, 4 at home, 7 against playoff teams
Last night – Lost 2-1 to Ottawa; next game – Tuesday vs. Minnesota
Montreal Canadiens - 8th place, 81 points, 36 wins, 3-5-2
10 games remaining - 4 on road, 6 at home, 4 against playoff teams
Last night – Did not play; next game – Tuesday vs. Atlanta
Florida Panthers - 9th place, 80 points, 35 wins, 4-4-2
10 games remaining - 5 on road, 5 at home, 5 against playoff teams
Last night – Did not play; next game – Tonight @ Carolina
Buffalo Sabres - 10th place, 76 points, 34 wins, 3-6-1
10 games remaining, 5 on road, 5 at home, 6 against playoff teams
Last night – Did not play; next game – Wednesday vs. Florida
Monday, March 23, 2009
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2 comments:
One of the things that has struck me this year is that we often seem to catch teams at good times -- for them. For example: the Islanders, Sens and now the Thrashers have been hot when we caught them. At other times, we seem to have caught teams who had been going through a tough patch and were working awfully hard to get out of it. Maybe, we'll do better when we play the teams you mentioned who are having a so-so run.
The for sale sign on the habs is very distrubing to me. How can you commit to long term contracts if we don't know who is signing the checks? cap floor here we come - looks like it'll be the Montreal bulldogs next year.
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