GDT #67 Caps at Sabres W 2-1

[Mickstix]

Ice still talking playoff scenarios?    I thought Alta, Hillbilly and I we're the only drunks on site here?   

[alta]

It’s still mathematically possible.

[BlackIce]

My feeling is that, while the probability the Caps make the playoffs is greater than zero, it rounds to zero.


Under other circumstances, this would feel like a statement victory:  traveling for the second game of a back to back, against a top team on an 8 game winning streak, sitting at home and having not played the day before, and the Caps figured out a way to get it done.  The problem of course is that there is simply too little of the season left to make a huge move in the standings.  If they get in they will have to squeak in by the narrowest of margins, and things probably have to go exactly right among the several teams immediately above them.   


Now the Caps go home for 4 of their remaining 7 home games.  They almost have to sweep the homestead to have any playoff chance at all.

[Mickstix]

Both of you need a meeting.    It'd take history type stuff to get them into the post season and this team doesn't have anything that resembles (good) history..

[alta]

Historic like when the Caps won 12 of their last 15 for Boudreau’s first season to squeak into the playoffs?


 

[BlackIce]

Historic like when the Caps won 12 of their last 15 for Boudreau’s first season to squeak into the playoffs?




Yeah, that's probably what it would take -- IF that is even enough.


 

[richkrt99]

I think I heard some talking heads a week or two ago saying the Caps road is one of the toughest because even though they have less games to play, they have to play more "playoff teams" then nearly any other team in the WC running

[alta]

Tanking earns them nothing, and I’m not fond of the practice. I’d rather see them show some pride and compete. Maybe play spoiler.

[BlackIce]

I think I heard some talking heads a week or two ago saying the Caps road is one of the toughest because even though they have less games to play, they have to play more "playoff teams" then nearly any other team in the WC running

The Caps have 15 games remaining.  5 are against clearly non-playoff teams:  New Jersey twice, St. Louis, the Rangers, and Toronto.  4 are against playoff-safe teams and/or teams that don't relate to the Caps' playoff chances:  Colorado, Buffalo, Utah, and Vegas (with Utah and Vegas having about the same records as the Caps.)  The remaining 6 are against teams that the Caps need to try to climb over to get to the playoffs:  Boston, Ottawa,Philadelphia, Columbus, and the Pens twice.     


There are only two games against teams clearly superior to the Caps:  Colorado and Buffalo (who of course they just defeated).  And the point is, if you have an uphill climb to the playoffs, you WANT as many games as possible against the teams you are trying to beat out, because those are the 4 point games that are zero-sum.  Your gain is your opponent's loss.  After all, at this point you can win all you want, but if the teams ahead of you are playing others and winning as well, you gain nothing.   


The Caps' schedule can be seen as tough, but it's also a schedule that gives them a significant chance to pull themselves past other teams, IF they can get hot. 

[BlackIce]

Tanking earns them nothing, and I’m not fond of the practice. I’d rather see them show some pride and compete. Maybe play spoiler.

   


Well then you should have been happy about last night.  As was I.  The first half of the game the Caps were a step behind.  Then they slowly dragged themselves into the game and eventually tilted the ice toward the end, playing the second half of a back-to-back against a rested, top team playing at home with an 8 game win streak.