BBeR's Standings and Leaders predictions for the 2007-2008 season

Close, but no dice.

Gritty prediction: The Habs will get their revenge in the final game of the season, with both teams inching for the final playoff spot, against the Leafs in Montreal and earn the 8th seed.


Hey loyal readers and hockey fans!

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but I can assure you the wait and the drought for hockey is now over, the season is about a week old and it's to no one's surprise that fans all around the nation are going crazy.
Well, I went crazy a few days before the Ducks and Kings dropped the puck in the UK, crazy making up predictions for the coming season.

Yes, I also know that the season's started and I'm a little late, but hey, who really cares except the people who insist over useless details?

Feel free to speak your mind or bash me to your heart's content.

1. New York Rangers
   
2. Ottawa Senators
   
3. Carolina Hurricanes
   
4. Buffalo Sabres
   
5. Pittsburgh Penguins
   
6. Philadelphia Flyers
   
7. Tampa Bay Lightning
8. Montreal Canadiens
   
9. Toronto Maple Leafs
10. Florida Panthers
    
11. New Jersey Devils
    
12. Washington Capitals
    
13. Boston Bruins
    
14. Atlanta Thrashers
    
15. New York Islanders
    

1. Detroit Red Wings
   
2. San Jose Sharks
   
3. Colorado Avalanche
   
4. Dallas Stars
   
5. Calgary Flames
   
6. Anaheim Ducks
   
7. Vancouver Canucks
   
8. Los Angeles Kings
   
9. Minnesota Wild
   
10. Nashville Predators
    
11. Columbus Blue Jackets
12. St. Louis Blues
    
13. Edmonton Oilers
    
14. Phoenix Coyotes
    
15. Chicago Blackhawks
    

Eastern Team Leaders (PTS):
Bruins -- Savard
Canadiens -- Koivu
Capitals -- Ovechkin
Devils -- Parise
Flyers -- Briere
Hurricanes -- Staal
Islanders -- Comrie
Lightning -- St. Louis
Maple Leafs -- Blake
Panthers -- Jokinen
Penguins -- Crosby
Rangers -- Jagr
Sabres -- Roy
Senators -- Alfredsson
Thrashers -- Hossa

Western Team Leaders (PTS):
Avalanche -- Sakic
Blackhawks -- Ruutu
Blue Jackets -- Nash
Blues -- Kariya, P.
Canucks -- Sedin (pick one)
Coyotes -- Doan
Ducks -- McDonald
Flames -- Igingla
Kings -- Frolov
Oilers -- Hemsky
Predators -- Dumont
Red Wings -- Datsyuk
Sharks -- Thornton
Stars -- Morrow
Wild -- Gaborik

-BBeR


(P.S. -- look for a redesign soon!)

Sabres take care of Rangers at MSG...

Tom Renney receiving a round of applause as he acknowledges the Rangers' fans support throughout this series and the entire season as well.

Here's a final look at the series, from a Fanatic's point of view, and by no means a Rangers or Sabres fan's (ahem, PW and Ghost, feel free to comment.)

Buffalo Sabres

The Sabres played well in general, although, in their first two games on the road, at MSG (their only two losses) they played horribly, actually, uninspired, as if they didn't want to win, and I commend the Rangers and Tom Renney for the great show they gave us this series, it was a roller-coaster ride all the way and every game was decided by a single goal; the most recent (obviously, if you haven't heard yet) being a 5-4 Sabres win on this glorious Montreal (and hopefully, wherever you are) afternoon (or night...or morning).
After two paltry losses to New York in Games 3 and 4, I was beginning to think that they were running out of gas, and that (as the NHL has witnessed a lot in the past century)their fantastic season was all for none.

In Game 5, in Buffalo with the series tied at two, Chris Drury put through a maze of players, behind Henrik Lundqvist off a rebound that even fooled two defencemen trying to stop the puck derrière the Swedish-born goaltender as well.
Drury has shown he is an amazing leader, and Daniel Briere's under-par play this series is only fueling Darcy Regier in one direction concerning both players' contract status, (both are UFA's on July 1st, and it's unlikely that he will retain both.)more precisely, in Chris Drury's direction.
Drury also prompted Ghost to write a spontaneous, emotion-filled post late Friday night when his blood pressure was soaring and his hands were shaking after the Sabres won 2-1 in overtime, with help from Chris Drury's goal at the 19:52 mark of the third period.

Imagine this: a Rangers fan sitting excitedly on his couch staring at his television screen, feeling the unavoidable power of victory approaching.
But then, all is lost when Drury scores, and his coffin is sealed with Afinogenov's blast from the point.
Now? Well, now he's probably in Heaven, wishing he were in Hell.

No but really, Rangers fans have nothing to hold against their team, Glen Sather put together a terrific team, even more terrifically coached by Tom Renney.
Led by Jaromir Jagr (...at home) on the scoresheet (with a little help from Michael Nylander) and with Henrik Lundqvist stopping the puck in their own end, you can say bad luck was the reason the Rangers lost this series.
They played so well, and deserved to beat them Sabres, but, sometimes, logic prevails over reason.

The Buffalo Sabres are the better team, the best team in the NHL and have been tops ever since the new NHL was born, it was just logic that Buffalo won, and frankly, I thought it would have been a lot easier for them to put the Rangers away, but no.
New York fought till the bitter end, and it was bitter.

The return of Paul Gaustad to the Sabres' lineup was more valuable than thought, he was an all-around smashing success in his return to the lineup after missing 35 games with an injury.

I'll let the Ghost and PW fill you out on the players, these were just my general impressions.

Oh, and PW would like for me to present to you this little pic of his, showing Henrik Lundqvist's backdoor, his weakness, where the Sabres didn't shoot in Games 3 and 4.



--BBR

Thursday NHL Morning Roundup...

NHL Scores Wrapup for Wednesday March 21st, 2007
Washington 2 at Buffalo 5
Philadelphia 0 at NY Rangers 5
San Jose 4 at Chicago 1
Colorado 5 at Edmonton 1
Nashville 0 at Vancouver 2
Dallas 4 at Los Angeles 2

Eastern Conference Standings

-Wow, this looks like it'll go down to the wire! A week ago, I thought the Islanders were all but out, but lookie now, they're sitting in 11th place! Ryan Smyth isn't the force he was in Edmonton and Alexei Yashin's now the line 4 centre...Ted Nolan better get his team's act together, this is not time for a team to go into a slump.

-There are some easy matchups for some East teams tonight...the Habs are in Boston to play the sulking Bruins, the 'Canes are playing the Caps, who lost to the Sabres on TSN yesterday and the Sens are facing the Panthers, although Jacques Martin's squad just refuses to lose!

-Some not in favour are the Isles-Penguins matchup, hopefully the Pens will beat them so the Habs can move up...the Penguins are really a true comeback story, I could only laugh when I heard their name be mentioned a few months ago, but not anymore, they are now legitimate contenders, and in the same position my Habs were 2 and a half months ago...the Thrashers are on the verge of clinching their first ever playoff berth and they have a tough task in front of them as they face the always tough Sharks...

-The Leafs are idle tonight and they still have a game in hand over the Habs, but all I can say is "good luck" as they face the East-leading Sabres tomorrow...

-The Avalanche are red-hot right now, but that doesn't come into account for this game as they still beat the now turned pityful Oilers 5-1...the Oilers have dropped 12 in a row and it looks like Ryan Smyth really had a huge impact on this club, more than I thought...Edmonton sets a franchise record for consecutive losses, beating out the 1993 Oilers who lost 11 in a row...the Avs still sit 4 points behind the Flames, who beat the always powerful Red Wings 2-1 a few days ago...

-Denis Savard is a good coach, but he can't stop the Blackhawks from floundering...this teams needs a major shake-up and a wake up call: "Hello! You are an NHL TEAM! Get into the playoffs already!

Four teams vying for final playoff spot in East...

Here's a table showing you the teams in the race for the final playoff spot of the Eastern Conference with the games remaining and their last game result. Below, you can see abbreviated summaries of the games mentioned above.

• The Canadiens beat the Bruins 1-0 yesterday with the help of rookies: getting 30 saves from rookie Jaroslav Halak and a goal from rookie Guillaume Latendresse, his 16th of the campaign to help top the Bruins, who now seem like they've completely given up on making the playoffs, having not scored a goal in a little more than 138 minutes...Tim Thomas was sensational, making 31 saves in another losing Bruins cause, but not a losing cause for him as he kept the Bruins in the game till the very end, but, when a team doesn't score a goal, it's kinda hard to win a game...


• The Leafs held off the Devils 2-1, the Devils attempted to pry their way back with a goal from rookie sensation Travis Zajac late in the 3rd period, but it was in vain as the Leafs win a crucial matchup against a powerhouse with help from Kyle Wellwood, and his 11th goal of the season, and Nik Antropov with his 16th to seal the deal. Andrew Raycroft was just a little better than the Devils' star netminder Martin Brodeur, making 24 saves with his counterpart making one less for 23...The Leafs are tied with the Canadiens and Hurricanes for the final playoff spot and the Eastern Conference, and along with Carolina, -have 1 game in hand over Montreal...

• The Islanders lost again, this time to the Lightining, in overtime 4-3. The loss puts the Islanders at a mediocre 3-4-3 record in their past ten games. Just as you thought they were a lock, they started losing. Tampa Bay came back in fine fashion after an embarrassing loss to Washington on Sunday (a 7-1 crumbling) despite blowing the lead and going down before tying the game and winning it in overtime. Eric Perrin notched his 12th goal of the season, Vincent Lecavalier scored his league-leading 49th, Jason Ward tied the game with his 5th and Filip Kuba won it in overtime for the Lightning...The Isles got goals from Richard Zednik, his 7th, Richard Park with his 6th and Miro Satan tallied his 25th in a losing cause. With this loss the Islanders fall out of the 8th spot and into the 11 spot in the Eastern Conference, they do hold however, games in hand over the other competing teams...

• The Hurricanes were idle but are coming off a 7-2 thrashing over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday and prepare to play Thursday against the Washington Capitals.

My thoughts on the mockery that hockey has turned into in Montreal.

This picture demonstrates the Canadiens' season overall.

Tonight, as the Canadiens will face-off against the Atlanta Thrashers, I hope they'll know how to spell HUGE, because that's how huge tonight's game is.

With the Leafs putting the Caps away 3-0 a few days ago, the Canadiens find themselves in the 10th spot, 2 points behind the Leafs for the 8th and final playoff spot and 1 point behind 9th place Carolina.

With the way the Habs have been playing recently, it makes me wonder if Guy Carbonneau has thrown them all in the dressing room, pulled out his board, took the cap off the Sharpie pen and scrawled down the misery the Canadiens have dug themselves into.

Yesterday, while at the Eaton Centre, in Montreal, I was proudly wearing my Canadiens jersey and had my jacket open on purpose, just to let everyone see the team that was the second best in the East 2 months ago and that have stumbled so badly.

How badly the common ignoramus asks? Let's just say the Canadiens have now dropped to a double-digit position in the East and the worst part about it is that the majority of their next 14 games are against Northeast division teams, namely the Bruins and Leafs, who are both making a push to put the Canadiens in the cellar and pull ahead in the standings.

I sometimes wonder how I can put up with this? Year in and year out, it's the same story, start off absolutely great, greater than people predicted and then slowly fade away into the New Year, like"the experts" always saw coming.

"Too good to be true" was the most common one.

What? You didn't see it coming? Well, I have to admit, neither did I. I seriously thought this team was for real, that we were Cup Contenders, that this is our year, and look how stupid that sounds now.
I was lost in that unique Canadiens euphoria, one which seldom affects other teams' fans as much as Habs fans, that brings me to 7th heaven and when we started losing, I came back to the place where the sad reality existed: Earth.

When I talk to people about the Canadiens, I usually get a snicker in the face before they register what I told them. Worst of all, I get the same damn excuse over and over...the Canadiens suck, you see, I told you this would happen.

I'm also sick and tired of these so called "fans"who give up on their team after it endures a slump, in this case, a lengthy one.

After a win, it's like: Oh yeah, the Habs are good...and after a loss, you probably guessed it: Oh, the Habs suck, they won't make the playoffs, blah, blah...

God, now I hope this town also realizes how important Cristobal Huet is to this team, as they now have no-bona fide number one and in danger of falling out of playoff contention, that could possibly kill them.

I still have faith, and I hope you Habs fans do too...

GO HABS!

Bleu, Blanc et Rouge.