Quote:
Originally Posted by Five-hole
As good as we've been playing, it's hard to look at the wild card standings and not think we're still in tough. Basically we have to keep winning at the same pace (no duh, I know) ... It's nice to have these points in the bank, certainly.
Assuming the following teams are locks based on the standings thus far:
Anaheim
St. Louis
Vancouver
Nashville
We're going to have to beat out three of:
Chicago
Minnesota
Los Angeles
San Jose
Winnipeg
Maybe Nashville or Vancouver aren't for real. Winnipeg probably isn't. Let's hope Niemi continues to be hot garbage, and Chicago or LA continue to struggle. Minnesota is coming on pretty good.
I guess what I'm saying is, we're going to have to be REALLY good to win our way in. More likely is that a few of these teams continue to not be very good.
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Vancouver IS NOT a lock. Not even close. I would say from that list only Anaheim, St. Louis, and maybe Nashville. We can also be pretty confident that LA and Chicago find their way in. I posted in another thread that the Flames essentially need to beat out two of Vancouver, Minnesota/Nashville (one of these teams will be in the top three in the Central), SJ, or Winnipeg. That is very doable, and no, it does not require that the Flames continue to play at a 0.65 clip. They need to be good. Fortunately, they are proving that they are exactly that.