A Carolina Hurricanes blog with occasional news about the rest of the NHL.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Southeast up in the air

On Saturday, things did not go well for the Hurricanes. If the stars had aligned properly, they would have clinched the Southeast division and the #3 seed in the playoffs. Now, even their playoff future is in question.

Carolina didn't bother showing up to the Tampa-St. Pete Times Forum on Saturday, losing an ugly game 2-1 to the Lightning. It's a game that they could have and should have won. On the other side of the state, Washington cruised to a 3-0 win over Florida. With three games to play, Carolina has a two point lead. As of right now, their 90 standings points would not be enough to get the eighth spot if everything goes pear shaped.

Carolina is still in control of their own destiny. Win two of the remaining three games, and they're in. Forget about how many games the Capitals may or may not lose. They have three games remaining, and all of them are in the Verizon Center. Assume that they will beat the Lightning on Thursday and the Kitties on Saturday. For them, they MUST win on Tuesday against Carolina. If they don't, there is no way for them to overtake Carolina. Although it isn't quite a "MUST WIN" situation for Carolina, it's as close to it as they can get.

If it comes down to it, Carolina holds all of the tie-breakers, but they'd much rather not let it get to that.

I'm going to be a complete mess tomorrow.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That game tomorrow night is going to be intense. As a fan, it feels like the playoffs start tomorrow.

The Acid Queen said...

It's going to be pretty heinous tomorrow, to be sure.

disclaimer

Red And Black Hockey is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Carolina Hurricanes Hockey Club, the National Hockey League or any of its other member clubs. The opinions expressed herein are entirely those of RBH. Any comments made are the opinion of the commenter, and not necessarily that of RBH.
Whenever possible, RBH uses its own photography. Any incidental use of copyrighted material including photography, logos or other brand markings will not interfere with the owner's profits.