[OOT] Final day of the season: 2 key games.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Philadelphia Flyers @ New York Islanders. 7 p.m. EDT

As Philadelphia clinched their playoff spot yesterday, and cannot change position in the standings, this will likely be a game that they will rest up their main players and likely phone the game in. That bodes well for the New York Islanders as they can still catch the New York Rangers for 3rd in the Metropolitan Division with a win. It has to be a win, since the Rangers hold the tiebreaker with more ROWs. It's debatable if the Islanders would rather play the Penguins or the Panthers in the 1st round. They lost both season series, but only by one game for both. However, there is a larger sample size against the Penguins, and they are also without M.A. Fleury to start the series, so perhaps they would rather face the Penguins than Luongo and the Panthers.

Anaheim Ducks @ Washington Capitals. 7:30 p.m. EDT

Is this a possible Stanley Cup preview? The Ducks will need to win their last game of the season, on the road, against the best team in the league (by a large margin), in a building where the Capitals have only surrendered 18 points all year. That's a tough task for even the strongest teams in the league. However, the Capitals have been mediocre down the stretch as they rest up for the playoff drive, and I doubt this would be much different for them. If the Ducks win, they claim 1st in the Pacific, and would play the Nashville Predators in the 1st round. Lose, and they play the San Jose Sharks with their terrible home record (18-20-3) in the 1st round. Neither team has been hot down the stretch. However, if I'm the Ducks I might want to be strategic in which team I face. They have an 0-3 record against Nashville, but a 3-1 record against San Jose, and the only loss they suffered was at the beginning of the year when they were atrocious. Ducks might intentionally lose this game in order to face San Jose over Nashville.

Should be interesting to see how this plays out.

[JJ1532]

Arthur Staple ‏@StapeNewsday 10m10 minutes ago
Capuano: Greiss will start, no Tavares, no Nielsen, no Okposo, no Boychuk. Martin, Clutterbuck in. Call-ups as well. Greiss won't finish gm.

Looks like the Islanders aren't taking this one seriously at all.

[OffsideSpecialist]

If I'm the Islanders, I would much rather cross-over to the Atlantic division.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by JJ1532

Arthur Staple ‏@StapeNewsday 10m10 minutes ago
Capuano: Greiss will start, no Tavares, no Nielsen, no Okposo, no Boychuk. Martin, Clutterbuck in. Call-ups as well. Greiss won't finish gm.

Looks like the Islanders aren't taking this one seriously at all.

I assume that "Greiss won't finish gm." means he won't finish the game, not that he won't be named the team's GM... Of course, it is the Islanders, so you can never be sure.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by OffsideSpecialist

If I'm the Islanders, I would much rather cross-over to the Atlantic division.

Same, having to deal with a red hot Crosby is never fun. At least they might stand a chance with the Panthers.

I'm expecting the Caps - Pens to meet in round two regardless of which NY team the Pens face.

[getbak]

2-2 in the Flyers-Isles game after 1.


Grubauer gets the start in Washington, so Holtby will end the season with 48 wins, tied with Brodeur (2006-07) for the most wins in a single season. Ovechkin and Backstrom both get the day off as well.

[Jets4Life]

0-0 Ducks and Caps. Seems like Washington is resting Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Holtby.

[TheScorpion]

Why wouldn't the Caps give Braden the chance to get 49?

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Why wouldn't the Caps give Braden the chance to get 49?

To rest him for the playoffs?

[hwy19man]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Philadelphia Flyers @ New York Islanders. 7 p.m. EDT



on simulcast on


______________________________________



Anaheim Ducks @ Washington Capitals. 7:30 p.m. EDT

on the in the USA simulcast on



Should be interesting to see how this plays out.

The regular season went into overtime!

This is due to the snowstorms in February on the eastern seaboard that postponed these two OOT games.

[hwy19man]

The Flyers lead 3-2 in the third period.

The Ducks have a 2-0 lead midway through the second period.

[getbak]

I heard an odd stat the other day. The Kings have only ever finished first in their Division once in team history. They won the Smythe Division in 1991, and that's it.

Barring a third period comeback from the Caps, it looks like this will be another 2nd place finish.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Keith Jones on the NBC broadcast is talking about how the Islanders essentially throwing this final game in order to face the Panthers is going to be chalkboard material for the Panthers. I don't doubt this at all. Florida runs relatively cool, but the few times their anger has been riled, they've flat out dominated the other team. This might prove to be a costly move for the Islanders.

[OffsideSpecialist]

And the Panthers owner said he would prefer to face the Islanders. So it goes both ways.

Not to mention that I don't think anyone can say the Isles tanked. They have been hot of late and were giving their big guys a night off before the playoffs, on the back end of a surprise back-to-back

[Canada 02]

For the Ducks, I'd rather face the Sharks than Nashville. Both comparable opponents so better to avoid the travel, and just stay in California

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by OffsideSpecialist

And the Panthers owner said he would prefer to face the Islanders. So it goes both ways.

Not to mention that I don't think anyone can say the Isles tanked. They have been hot of late and were giving their big guys a night off before the playoffs, on the back end of a surprise back-to-back

The owner has very little to do with bulletin board material, unless they're incredibly disparaging. The players and coaches say a lot more than an owner ever could, and it's clear they don't respect the Panthers as much as the Penguins.

Fair enough. It's their first time for many of these players, but people have been underestimating this team all year and got burned for it. Even when they knew they had to play a hard game against the Panthers, they still lost. They didn't win their division by accident.

BTW, what about the back to back games was surprising? It's been scheduled for a while, and it's clear they didn't ice their best roster because they didn't want to play a hot team in the Penguins. That is strategic tanking of a game. No other way to look at it.

[hwy19man]

It looks like the goals by Perry and Ritchie will hold up for the Ducks as Andersen has stopped all 21 Capitals' shots with four minutes left in regulation time.

[Da_Chief]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

The owner has very little to do with bulletin board material, unless they're incredibly disparaging. The players and coaches say a lot more than an owner ever could, and it's clear they don't respect the Panthers as much as the Penguins.

Fair enough. It's their first time for many of these players, but people have been underestimating this team all year and got burned for it. Even when they knew they had to play a hard game against the Panthers, they still lost. They didn't win their division by accident.

BTW, what about the back to back games was surprising? It's been scheduled for a while, and it's clear they didn't ice their best roster because they didn't want to play a hot team in the Penguins. That is strategic tanking of a game. No other way to look at it.

The owner running his mouth isn't bulletin board material but a team resting their players is?

Penguins are a much more dangerous team right now then the Panthers. The Flames rested everyone last game of last year as well, so did the Jets. Caps are resting their players. Ducks only played their players to win the division.

You're reading too much into it.

[Tsawwassen]

Originally Posted by OffsideSpecialist

And the Panthers owner said he would prefer to face the Islanders. So it goes both ways.

Not to mention that I don't think anyone can say the Isles tanked. They have been hot of late and were giving their big guys a night off before the playoffs, on the back end of a surprise back-to-back

Bill Torrey fixed it this way so he could see both teams that he built. You're right, the Isles didn't tank. The Isles clinched a playoff spot and like many other teams in the past, the good players get to have a game off and rest.

[Tsawwassen]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

For the Ducks, I'd rather face the Sharks than Nashville. Both comparable opponents so better to avoid the travel, and just stay in California

Probably prefer to face the Kings again in the 2nd round, just like they did 2 years ago.