Tomas Sandstrom Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Just took a look at the schedule... 10 of last 14 are at MSG. 4 road games: @Islanders, @Devils, @Flyers, and @Boston - So really not much travel left Currently: 3 Points ahead of Pittsburgh, 3 points behind Carolina Can't overlook anyone or assume anything, but the way this team is playing right now, seems like a real opportunity here to finish strong. At the same time, should be a good opportunity for some home cooking, get some rest and prepare for the playoffs. So, some questions I'm considering: Where do we see this team finishing in the standings? Any playoff matchup more preferable than any other? How important is home ice in the playoffs? This is suddenly turning into a pretty special season, great opportunity these next few months... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Heaven Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 2 minutes ago, Tomas Sandstrom said: Just took a look at the schedule... 10 of last 14 are at MSG. 4 road games: @Islanders, @Devils, @Flyers, and @Boston - So really not much travel left Currently: 3 Points ahead of Pittsburgh, 3 points behind Carolina Can't overlook anyone or assume anything, but the way this team is playing right now, seems like a real opportunity here to finish strong. At the same time, should be a good opportunity for some home cooking, get some rest and prepare for the playoffs. So, some questions I'm considering: Where do we see this team finishing in the standings? Any playoff matchup more preferable than any other? How important is home ice in the playoffs? This is suddenly turning into a pretty special season, great opportunity these next few months... How many Kreider home jerseys will be worn at Home Game 1 in the playoffs? and what percentage of Kreider jerseys will be male vs. female? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morphinity 2.0 Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Where do we see this team finishing in the standings? 2nd - 115 points Any playoff matchup more preferable than any other? No, I think they can beat any team in the division. How important is home ice in the playoffs? I think it's pretty important. They play really well at home, so I'd prefer to have that extra game at home. I know people say it only matters in a Game 7, but a) no, there are other reasons you'd want home ice b) I don't see this team winning any series in less than 6, so having that game 7 at home would be nice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Is this the modern Mikey’s Magic Number thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 The first series is against Pittsburgh. I usually don’t care about home ice advantage, but I think you want it for this series. It could be the last Hoorah for the Pens core, and we don’t need to be playing against the refs/league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrooksBurner Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 I think the Rangers can catch the Hurricanes. Still 2 games left against them in MSG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangersIn7 Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 I don’t think they catch Carolina. I think they finish second and play Pittsburgh. Only Carolina really scares me. They’ve looked awful against them this year. But it’ll be interesting to see how much difference the new additions they’ve made actually make. Theyve had good results this year vs Florida, Toronto, Tampa, and Pittsburgh. Home Ice can’t hurt. But it’s not an absolute imperative . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrooksBurner Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 1 minute ago, RangersIn7 said: I don’t think they catch Carolina. I think they finish second and play Pittsburgh. Only Carolina really scares me. They’ve looked awful against them this year. But it’ll be interesting to see how much difference the new additions they’ve made actually make. Theyve had good results this year vs Florida, Toronto, Tampa, and Pittsburgh. Home Ice can’t hurt. But it’s not an absolute imperative . Luck of the draw more than anything. Rangers played poorly the first game, no doubt, but it’s one game. The second game they were completely gassed from the Tampa game the night before. Both were also in Carolina. It’s not a trend yet. I think the games at the Garden with Igor in net will be very different looking, especially if the first seed is up for grabs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangersIn7 Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 14 minutes ago, rmc51 said: Luck of the draw more than anything. Rangers played poorly the first game, no doubt, but it’s one game. The second game they were completely gassed from the Tampa game the night before. Both were also in Carolina. It’s not a trend yet. I think the games at the Garden with Igor in net will be very different looking, especially if the first seed is up for grabs. Putting it into context, yes, I agree. And look, the lack of depth that they put out there in those games is a huge factor too. But still, they got throttled in both games, other reasons aside. But to your point, yes, these last 2 vs Carolina I think give a better indication. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 20 minutes ago, rmc51 said: Luck of the draw more than anything. Rangers played poorly the first game, no doubt, but it’s one game. The second game they were completely gassed from the Tampa game the night before. Both were also in Carolina. It’s not a trend yet. No, maybe not, but small sample size withstanding, what we've seen hasn't been encouraging. I'd much rather play the Penguins, who they've actually dominated for large stretches during the regular season. Let someone else deal with Carolina and hope for a first-round upset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrooksBurner Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 (edited) 11 minutes ago, Phil said: No, maybe not, but small sample size withstanding, what we've seen hasn't been encouraging. I'd much rather play the Penguins, who they've actually dominated for large stretches during the regular season. Let someone else deal with Carolina and hope for a first-round upset. For sure, I definitely wouldn’t want to play Carolina first round. I was just saying I think we can beat them at the Garden and challenge for the 1 seed in the Metro. I guess that would probably line us up against one of Tampa/Toronto/Boston. Tampa would be a worse matchup than Pittsburgh. Closer with the other two, maybe worse lol. East is loaded sigh. But we’d be guaranteed home ice for the first two rounds and the ECF against anyone but Florida. Edited March 31, 2022 by rmc51 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJWantsTheCup Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 I see them finishing in 2nd and playing the Penguins. Home ice means a shit ton in the playoffs. Looks like they might surpass the 107 points I predicted the day they played Tampa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 13 minutes ago, rmc51 said: For sure, I definitely wouldn’t want to play Carolina first round. I was just saying I think we can beat them at the Garden and challenge for the 1 seed in the Metro. I guess that would probably line us up against one of Tampa/Toronto/Boston. Tampa would be a worse matchup than Pittsburgh. Closer with the other two, maybe worse lol. East is loaded sigh. But we’d be guaranteed home ice for the first two rounds and the ECF against anyone but Florida. Right. I think they can beat Carolina, too. I think they will beat Pittsburgh, so I want to play Pittsburgh. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJWantsTheCup Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 1 minute ago, Phil said: Right. I think they can beat Carolina, too. I think they will beat Pittsburgh, so I want to play Pittsburgh. At this point I think they can beat any one, but it's more likely they beat Pittsburgh than Carolina. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siddious Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Assuming the team that plays well shows up, and shows up consistently, with the added depth I think they can take anyone including Tampa and Colorado. Pittsburgh I think is beatable. Carolina scares me I think they might actually be the best team in the league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThirtyONE Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 (edited) I hope they have home ice vs the pens. I think that's the best chance they have at moving on to the second round. Personally, I don't really want to play Boston or Washington, so if they can maintain where they're at for the next few weeks, I'll be thrilled. Hopefully they don't have to cross paths with the Canes at any point. Or if they do, at least give the Canes a chance to get beat up by someone first. Edited March 31, 2022 by ThirtyONE 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrooksBurner Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 25 minutes ago, Phil said: Right. I think they can beat Carolina, too. I think they will beat Pittsburgh, so I want to play Pittsburgh. Yeah def, but I don’t see a realistic scenario where the Canes play us in round 1. I don’t see Pitts catching Carolina to force a round 1 Canes vs Rangers matchup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 If there's one thing I've learned with watching this sport for however long, it's that the regular season doesn't mean shit in the playoffs. Pittsburgh and Carolina are playoff tested and in Pittsburgh's case really battle hardened. Even with Florida not having as much experience, they were there last year. There are very few players on this team with that kind of experience. They will all be tough outs for us, each for a different reason. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 I really don't care who we play. I'm just so happy they had the season that they're having. This year has been such a great ride, and I'm sure you guys have waited to see progress like this for quite a while. I think we can beat just about any team that comes our way. We have the X Factor: Igor! We will go as far as he can take us! The team still has 14 more games to gel with the players we recently brought in, and I have very high hopes we can make some noise this season. As much as I would LOVE to win the Stanley Cup, I really would be fairly satisfied to win at least 1 round of the playoffs. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 1 hour ago, Pete said: If there's one thing I've learned with watching this sport for however long, it's that the regular season doesn't mean shit in the playoffs. Pittsburgh and Carolina are playoff tested and in Pittsburgh's case really battle hardened. Even with Florida not having as much experience, they were there last year. There are very few players on this team with that kind of experience. They will all be tough outs for us, each for a different reason. This is also true. Going into the "bubble playoffs," all we were talking about is how the Rangers "owned" the Canes in the regular season that year. They got snuffed out. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morphinity 2.0 Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 2 minutes ago, Phil said: This is also true. Going into the "bubble playoffs," all we were talking about is how the Rangers "owned" the Canes in the regular season that year. They got snuffed out. The bubble playoffs were such an anomaly though. Obviously what you're saying is true, but I can't point to that and glean anything from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 I mean, they were, for sure. All I'm saying is that Pete's larger point that the regular season is largely irrelevant is probably pretty accurate. I'm not sure you can use it to determine all that much at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrooksBurner Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 24 minutes ago, Phil said: This is also true. Going into the "bubble playoffs," all we were talking about is how the Rangers "owned" the Canes in the regular season that year. They got snuffed out. I’m actually nervous about the Pens. We are fooling ourselves if we think Crosby/Malkin/refs don’t have another gear that will absolutely show up in a playoff series. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sod16 Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 With 10 home games, we actually have a decent chance of catching Carolina, which would alter the playoff outlook considerably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Heaven Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 2 minutes ago, Sod16 said: With 10 home games, we actually have a decent chance of catching Carolina, which would alter the playoff outlook considerably. Eh, its possible but not likely. Canes have a game in hand. Plus besides playing the Rangers 2x, Col, Minnesota, every game they have is vs. teams below .500 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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