Regading the losses to Philly. Well they have sucked against them. I still read less into them than others seem to though. The first time was an embarassment because they had their lineup and just plain lost the game. They stunk it up, but they got terrible goaltending. That loss turned their season around. The other two losses were again lack of effort but they were much closer score-wise and effort-wise but again soft goaltending and this time they had a massively depleted lineup.

The Ottawa win was absolutely solid. The loss wasn’t. But Kidd stunk it up letting in 3 soft goals on three soft shots. That hurts a team real bad and the score snowballed from there as Kidd really sucked. The had the depleted lineup and once the score was 3-0 the game was over anyway as you don’t come back from 3-0 in the regular season with that kind of depleted lineup.

The next two games against Ottawa will be big for both teams. If the leafs come out on top I think the most they have to do is split the two games. But I really feel that Ottawa needs to win both to gain top spot. Perhaps Ottawa will be pointwise on top but the leafs have the far easier schedule coming up than Ottawa until the end and I think that the leafs will have an easier time gaining points than the Sens.

Regardless this is certainly going to be an interesting finish in the North East. While it isn’t going to happen Boston and Montreal still have a shot at taking first, and even Buffalo could somehow go on a big streak and climb up the standings (even less likely to happen).

I just hope that NJ stumbles against their first round opponent as they are the team that worries me the most of anyone in the league.

but lets disregard the regualar season

and records against other teams and all those things. teams do not win the cup that can’t play defense… which the leafs have a tendency not to do, which has absolutely nothing to do with the regular season. and consistently bites the leafs in the ass when they get into tight playoff series over the long haul, eventually they open it up a little bit and get burned.

and who’s making the argument that every single game matters? do you have to win every game. no. but you gotta be able to at the very least step on the ice and put up a fight, and the leafs are simply not getting that done against the class of the east so far this year.

so someone getting on here and saying that the ONLY teams that can reach the finals from the east are the Leafs and the Devils is what i was responding to, and if you honestly believe that then you are as stupid as him, since he clearly hasn’t been watching the way the East works over the past 10 years. Hell, we are prolly gonna send someone completely random like Atlanta or Montreal… Buffalo, Carolina… Washington.. there’s a trend there…. ANYONE CAN MAKE IT. i was responding to what the mother article said buddy.

by the way, enjoy the 4 seed, ottawa has emerged from their coma. it either gonna be Philly v. Toronto, or NJ v. Toronto in the first round most likely, since if nothing else Ottawa has proven itself to be VERY good over the regular season. Should be a fun first round… maybe the winner can get past the second this year…

-chris

When will you people get it through you heads that the regular season means absolutely nothing. The Sens have historically owned the leafs in the regular season but have yet to beat the leafs.

Toronto has been historically terrible against the Flyers (something like 36-72 plus some ties). It means absolutely nothing.

And just for fun, lets pretend I didn’t just make that previous argument:

That must be bad for the Sens as they are the only team that the leafs have beat. That must mean that they aren’t going to be able to handle the big guys if they can’t dominate the leafs every time they play them. (sarcastic eye roll)

And the Sens have lost to Pittsburgh so that must mean they are toast….

that being said, esche has no playoff experience. That could be a problem, or it couldnt be. Since he doesnt have the experience, he might crumble under the pressure, or he could shine and carry the team like he has at points this season. Remember, Guigerre (sp?) didnt have playoff experience either. EVeryone has had a point where they had no playoff experience. How did Patrick Roy become a playoff winning monster? he was thrown into it his rookie year, the canadians went with him and it payed off. The same with any winning goalie….theyre not born with big game experience, its earned at somepoint or another…

Who would i trade for…..i dont really know.Khabibulin hadnt been in a playoff situation in the better part of five years, and he didnt really do all that for me either. Kolzig hasnt done anything since the caps finals run in 98, and i dont think he had all that much playoff experience either……my point is sometimes you just haveta go with it. If esche gets real hot come april, i think he is just as good as any goalie out there (except brodeur but then again nobody is) if anything i would see whats goin on with hackett and if he cant go then id trade for someone that has some playoff experience and can back up esche…im thinkin of maybe Turek depending on whats doin with calgary in a month…thats my opinion anyways