Eastern Conference:
(1) Montreal vs (8) Boston
(2) Pittsburgh vs (7) Ottawa
(3) Washington vs (6) Philadelphia
(4) New Jersey vs (5) NY Rangers
Western Conference:
(1) Detroit vs (8) Nashville
(2) San Jose vs (7) Calgary
(3) Minnesota vs (6) Colorado
(4) Anaheim vs (5) Dallas
Here are a few bits of New York Rangers trivia to tide us over until the festivities start on Wednesday.
- The Rangers went 7-0-1 against New Jersey this year, picking up 15 of a possible 16 points in the process. Had they instead managed to only play .500 in those 8 games against the Devils, picking up 8 points instead of 15, they'd have finished the season with 90 points instead of 97... and out of the playoffs! Yeah, that's how significant that domination of the Devils was to the Rangers this year!
- The Rangers finished with a league-best record of 20-7-5 against the other 4 teams in their own division (for 45 points). The next best intra-divisional record across the entire NHL was held by Colorado, at 20-10-2 (for 42 points). I don't know what was behind the Rangers' amazing run against their division mates, but it was certainly impressive, and unmatched by any other team.
- Despite reader Shane's frequently-repeated jibes about how the bar was higher for the Western Conference playoff race (meaning, a team needed more points to get in there), the final results don't bear that out. In the East, a 92-point team - Carolina - didn't make the playoffs, while a 91-point team in West - Nashville - is now getting ready to play in the postseason. Clearly it was tougher to make the cut in the East. Regardless, the Rangers and their 97 points would have finished 5th in either Conference.
3 comments:
Now we both know about the Rangers record vs. the Western confrence this season, and I think your assumption of the 5th in the West would only be accurate if New York were considered a Western confrence team who was able to play New Jersey 8 times! Not to mention the fact that the East granted 77 points for an OTL (a stat I'm not a big fan of) as compared to the Western Confrence offering 68. [playoff teams only] I might also add that the Blueshirts tied for first overall in the NHL with 13 points awarded for an overtime loss. Thus vaulting them into 5th spot as opposed to a tie for 7th if the NHL removed 3 point games. Furthermore, Boneman's Bruins stood to gain the most from the OTL as they earned a playoff spot because of thier 12 points for a loss in extra time. They would have finished 9th with 82 points if the system deemed a loss to be worthless.
Food for thought.
I can't wait for the second season to begin...
My boys could only manage 12 points for OT and SO losses?? Those bums are useless!! I'm hoping that 82 games of sitting back and playing as boring as possible will pay off in the 2nd season when defensive play takes precedence over offensive play (and I don't mean cursing!)
Interesting debating technique, Mr Shane: imagine a completely different scoring system, and then use that scenario to prove a point within the current system! Overtime/shootout works the way it does (until the rules are changed again) and every team has 82 chances to get as many points as they can under it.
What I was saying, in terms of how many points it takes to make the playoffs, relates to the current system. In it, you play each team in your own division 8 times, the other teams in your conference 4 times, and the teams in the other conference once (for 2 divisions) or not at all (for the 3rd division). Under those rules, it took more points to get into the Eastern Conf playoffs than it took for the West (one more, actually, along with some help). And the team that finished 5th, in both conferences, had 97 points.
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