A few quick hits in the first day after a funeral that has kept me absent for the greater portion of this week (much like the Rangers in Florida).
1) Ah, those Rangers. Thirteen straight games with a point (although some real sloppy play, but they still managed to win 10 games), and then the predictable downfall against two out-of-playoff teams in Hockey Centr... uhhh... Florida.
Against those two weaker teams, Tom Renney should have benched Brendan Shanahan and Colton Orr in favor of Petr Prucha and Ryan Hollweg. Why bench Shanny and Orr? Shanahan is needed more for the playoffs than two games in Florida (which, they lost anyway). He has the aches and pains that come with playing hard for 20 years. His knee could use the rest. Orr is a deterrent - who is there to deter in Florida? Wade "Not Darcy Tucker" Belak? Shane "My New Team Sucks" O'Brien? Those two should have been sat for fresh, hungry legs like Prucha's and Hollweg's.
2) A note on Bryan's half of a playoff preview. He brushes off Colorado as not being able to get by Calgary, yet forgets that Colorado has played the whole year with injuries. Where would the Rangers be without Jagr, Gomez, Drury, Shanahan, and Dubinsky? Well, Joe Sakic, Ryan Smyth, Paul Stastny, and Marek Svatos have been injured off and on throughout the season. Peter Forsberg is back in his rightful spot, Colorado, and right where he left off, injured and in street clothes. Still, the Avs have held onto the end of the playoff race, and that is STILL without a goalie. Now that Jose Theodore is playing well and Peter Budaj has some competition, look out, the Avs are going to get real scary.
3) We all knew the cock-eyed schedule would result in tense divisional play for seedings once it was released. Rangers have 10 games left - 3 against the Devils and Penguins, 2 against the Islanders and Flyers. Going 6-2-2 would almost ensure them of a playoff birth, anything else might cut it close, anything .500 or less (say, 4-4-2 or 3-4-3) might wash away the whole month they just played. Not only do they have to win but they need to hold both games against Philly to regulation.
Do you really trust Jose Theodore against Detroit or San Jose? There's definitely a chance the team comes together and makes a playoff run. But they're going to need a good seed to do it. I could see them beating Dallas, but I don't think they could get past the Wings, Sharks, or Ducks - at least one of which they'll almost certainly face in the first two rounds.
ReplyDeleteI think Theodore matches up better than Osgood and Hasek in Detroit. If Colorado ends up against Detroit, my money would be on the Avs. Detroit has been a Regular Season Team for a while now, and this year's AARP members are no different.
ReplyDeleteSan Jose? I don't know. Anaheim? Maybe. Neither of those teams have firepower. SJ plays a team-defensive game with a great goalie, and Anaheim has no offense (Rob Neidermayer has been picking up the slack for Corey Perry), so I think Colorado's forwards could score more than Jose will let up.