Caps @ Hurricanes 3-21-2009 Post-Mortem

Ah the beauty of Google Blogger and their delayed publishing feature. If you're reading this now, we typed this up earlier today. That's because folks, we joined the Caps Fan Club on their road trip to Raleigh for the game tonight. So in all likely hood, you're reading this post while we're riding the bus back to the D.C. area. We're many things but we're not clairvoyant so as we're typing this up, we don't know who won the game, who played well, who stunk up the joint, and other odds and ends but we can give you a breakdown of our playoff and division picture.

As mentioned in the Preview, the Caps could not secure a playoff spot tonight, but they could get very, very close to one.

If the Caps won OR the Buffaslugs lost to the New York Rangers in Regulation OR the Caps AND the Buffaslugs BOTH lost after Regulation:

The Buffaslugs join the Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Atlanta Thrashers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and New York Islanders as a team that can no longer catch the Caps in the standings. The Caps would own the first real tiebreaker (most wins) a therefore the Caps will have closed out six of the required seven teams to earn a playoff spot.

For a 2009 Eastern Conference Stanley Cup Playoff Spot:

If the Caps won in Regulation:

The magic number for a playoff spot reduces to 1 point.

If the Caps won after Regulation:

The magic number for a playoff spot reduces to 2 points.

If the Caps lost after Regulation:

The magic number for a playoff spot reduces to 4 points.

If the Caps lost in Regulation:

The magic number stays at 5 points.


For the Southeast Division Title:

If the Caps won and Florida lost to Columbus in Regulation:

The magic number for the Division title reduces to 2 points.

If the Caps and Florida BOTH won in Regulation:

The magic number for a Division title reduces to 4 points.

If the Caps and Florida BOTH lost in Regulation:

The magic number for a Division title reduces to four points.

If the Caps and Florida BOTH lost after regulation:

The magic number for a Division title reduces to 4 points.

If the Caps won and Florida lost after Regulation:

The magic number for a Division title reduces to 3 points.

If the Caps lost after Regulation and Florida lost in Regulation:

The magic number for a Division title reduces to 3 points.

If the Caps lost in Regulation and Florida lost after Regulation:

The magic number for a Division title reduces to 5 points.

If the Caps lost after Regulation and Florida won:

The magic number for a Division title reduces to 5 points.

If the Caps lost in Regulation and Florida won:

The magic number for a Division Title remains at 6 points.

Got it? Good because there will be a quiz later. Now if you'll excuse us, our posteriors just left to go catch the bus to Raleigh and we have to run to go catch up with them...