Pop Culture Cuisinart

Will the Thrashers make the playoffs? Let’s consider where they are and where they need to go. Currently sitting 9th with 76 points the Thrash are 3 pts out of a playoff spot at this moment. In front of them are the Lightning in the 6th spot with 81 pts, the Devils in 7th with 79 pts, and the Canadiens in 8th with 79 pts(The 5th spot is 90pts and thus out of reach for the Brown Birds unless the Rangers totally skate over their johnsons the next 3 weeks). Obviously they need to pass one of these three teams to get into the playoff mix, so who is the likely candidate? The Lightning seem like the obvious choice because the Thrash go head to head against them 3 times in the final 11 games and control their own destiny, more or less against them. However all of those games will be played in Tampa and outside of 3 games remaining with the Hurricanes the Bolts don’t play anyone else in contention for a playoff spot. Barring a 3 game sweep of the ‘Ning don’t count on the Thrash passing them. The Canadiens also seem a possibility; they are only 3 points up. However the Habs schedule is an open invitation to the playoffs. 8 of their last 11 are at home and only 6 of those are against teams currently holding playoff spots, with 4 of those 6 at home. In other words the Habs should rack enough points against the Bruins and Caps of the NHL to stay safely ahead. This leaves us with my pick to pass, the NJ Devils. The Devs have a rough schedule 6 away and 5 home with 9 meetings with current playoff teams on tap including 3 with the Flyers and 2 with the Habs(may they kill each other). It’s hard to see a tired Devs team getting much more than a point a game out of that scenario and even that might prove too difficult. I say 90 pts tops for the Brodeurs and maybe less.

So the Thrash need to find 15 pts (out of a possible 22) to get to 91. Looking at the schedule it’s going to be tough. Only 4 home games remain with 7 on the road, 6 games remain against playoff teams with 4 of those being on the road (3 against Tampa). The Tampa games are huge, not only to gain on the ‘Ning dynasty, but also to keep positive momentum going. Ottawa looks like a loss to me, and the two homers against the Canes will be no picnic either. The 5 games against the non playoff teams are a must for the Thrash, anything less than say 8 points in those games and the Birds probably have no shot. 10 would be best but I won’t get greedy. Let’s say 4 more against the Bolts and then at least 3 against the Canes, which would bring us to 15. A tall chore, but certainly possible. Let’s Go Thrashers!