Nice hands by Avery on that goal.
The Devils' magic point numbers are now...
7 to clinch a playoff berth (including head-to-head tie breaker with Buffalo)
16 to clinch home ice in the first round
18 to clinch the Atlantic (including PIT's loss to the NYR) and the #1 seed (pending the MON/STL outcome)
Beating Pittsburgh once more in regulation would reduce the divisional number by 5, since that would clinch the head-to-head tie breaker. In OT/SO would reduce it by 4.
that's basically winning all the games left.
It's 8 points from first to 8th. It's stupid.
The Devils can lose once in regulation and still win the conference no matter what Pittsburgh and Montreal do. The numbers will get smaller as those teams lose and/or the Devils win obviously, but when you're one point apart, it is basically every game.
BTW Montreal's not losing to St. Louis.
Edit: Oh look, they already tied it.
I was driving back from DE last night listening to the local Philly sports station: The fans are terrified of the Devils.
That doesn't change the numbers though. They can't get higher, only lower. When that game ends, the Devils will be, at worst, 1 point behind Montreal with two games in hand.
Oh, I know...I'm just wondering if you're ready to respect Montreal at all, but I doubt you are.
They're soft as shit, counting on a completely unproven goalie, and relying on one of the most selfish players in the league to carry their offense. Of course, if they continue to get every call every night, they're scary, just like the Kings would be. They've gotten six straight power plays again tonight.
Montreal is the only team I really feel like the Devils would be clear underdogs against in a postseason series.
Their being soft won't really matter against our lack of consistent scoring over a 7 game series. They'd outscore us.
I can't believe I wasted time doing this, but here are the PP differentials for every playoff team in the east (coming into today):
CAR +61
MON +39
NYR +24
PIT +15
NJD +6
PHI +2
BOS -21
OTT -56
I think Ottawa's has dropped by like 80 since Christmas when Montreal took over the anointed spot. Carolina benefits from their trash ass division more than favoritism I think.
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