A disappointment, though not one they seemed to be too, too down over. Wanted to get more pucks to the net. Thought Hartford got some bounces doing just that. There it is. Game 80, here and gone. Games 81-84 come against the best team in the AHL in the past 15 years.
Hey, it’s always fun. You toss the pucks out there and see what happens.
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Up on the soapbox: If it’s an awful way to decide a playoff spot, then it’s an awful way to decide a game in November, too. They decide playoff spots just as easily as games on April 11. To wit, The Real Standings:
EASTERN CONFERENCE ATLANTIC y-Worcester 46 28 6 98 x-Manchester 40 31 9 89 x-Portland 38 31 11 87 x-Lowell 36 35 9 81 Hartford 34 39 7 75* Bridgeport 31 36 13 75* Providence 31 43 6 68 Springfield 21 51 8 50 EAST y-Hershey 56 17 7 119 x-Albany 39 32 9 87 x-Wilkes-Barre 37 36 7 81 x-Norfolk 34 38 8 76* Binghamton 33 41 6 72 Syracuse 29 43 8 66 Adirondack 28 44 8 64 WESTERN CONFERENCE NORTH y-Hamilton 46 20 14 106 x-Rochester 40 35 5 85 x-Abbotsford 32 34 14 78 x-Manitoba 32 38 10 74 Lake Erie 29 38 13 71* Grand Rapids 30 42 8 68* Toronto 24 41 15 63* WEST y-Chicago 44 25 11 99 x-Texas 41 30 9 91 x-Rockford 41 33 6 88 x-Milwaukee 38 32 10 86 San Antonio 34 37 9 77* Peoria 31 35 14 76* Houston 31 41 8 70
*-change from real real standings
Sing along with the disclaimer: You don’t know that teams will play games the same way without the bonus points, so these are just an exercise. And the standings would have been different all along, too. For instance, just taking Sunday, if Bridgeport knew it had to win, would things have gone differently? Maybe.
Anyway. Bridgeport’s seven shootout wins basically get the Sound Tigers into the playoffs. Only Toronto (which plummets without its nine shootout points) and Manitoba had more.
Bridgeport isn’t the only team with a negative goal differential to make it; Abbotsford and Manitoba did, and Rockford was even. No non-playoff teams were positive, which probably makes sense when you’ve got Hamilton going plus-89 and Hershey going only plus-144.
Pythagorean-wise, Binghamton might have underachieved enough to miss the playoffs. It might have been very close to Norfolk. Rockford overachieved by about eight points to leapfrog Milwaukee.
Here are the full AHL playoff schedules. Nothing too weird, though building availability makes Worcester-Lowell, a series between teams about 45 minutes apart, a 2-3-2.
Mike Morrison got the start in goal and gave up only two goals in a win. Deciding Game 5 is Tuesday.
Rochester named former Tiger Jamie Johnson its MVP.
Third String Goalie notes that they totally messed up the drop shadow on Mike Modano’s North Stars sweater Saturday night.
A beautiful Cul de Sac.