Friday, April 05, 2019

Evening Preview (Apr 5)



Well, if you're keeping track, three playoff spots were clinched last night, leaving only one left to go at the start of play on Friday night, the second-to-last night on the regular season schedule.  That last playoff spot could also be decided tonight, which would only leave a little bit of jockeying left to be done on the final day/night of action.  We'll tackle that spot in the specific game.

Both Stuart and Stacey M. are finishing this season strong, both are leading the Mover & Shaker race at 23 points, but John P. is surprising many with a strong finish at 22 points and Jesse's last ditch effort for money sees his team at 21 points this week.  The last Mover & Shaker will come right down to the wire, by the look of things.

Troy's team currently stands alone in the dark, down in the basement, with 6 points in-hand, but in this morning's notes, it was mentioned that eight teams are within 4 points of his team, so all it takes is for one of those teams to fall down the stairs and it could be all theirs for the summer.

Sergei Bobrovsky (Kristy & Don) versus Alexandar Georgiev (N/A)
The Columbus Blue Jackets need 2 points to clinch their playoff berth between tonight's game against the Rangers and tomorrow's game against the Senators, but I'm sure they would much rather prefer to get it done right away.  Both opponents shouldn't pose too much of a threat, but that's the sort of attitude that could bite a team in the ass, if that's what they're thinking.

I would think, with the playoff spot on the line and the ability to get a point or two to clinch it, the Jackets should be going with Sergei Bobrovsky tonight.  Get the win, rest him tomorrow on the back-to-back nights.  That makes sense, right?  Well, it was unconfirmed at the time of publishing the post, but I would think the duo have a good chance at this start tonight.  The Rangers have confirmed that Alexandar Georgiev will get the start tonight, trying to spoil the party for at least one more night.

Anton Khudobin (Grant) versus Corey Crawford (N/A)
If Dallas can pick up at least a point in Chicago tonight, they will clinch the top wild card spot and earn themselves a date in the opening round of the playoffs against whichever team wins the Central, leaving the Avalanche to play the Flames in the opening round.

The Stars are leaving that task up to Anton Khudobin tonight, which is good news for Grant's team, if Grant's team still had a sniff of a chance for the money this year.  His team has since fallen to 5th, 20 points out of 3rd place and is now battling against Tony's team for that top five spot.

Jack Campbell (N/A) versus John Gibson (Kristy & Don)
The Anaheim Ducks will conclude their regular season schedule tonight with a home game against the Los Angeles Kings and they will be the only team that doesn't play on the last day/night of the season, as there will be 15 games tomorrow.  If the Ducks were to win tonight's game they would move past the Canucks for 23rd in the overall standings and their draft lottery odds would decline, so it may not be in their best interest to do so.  Just saying.

The duo should have two starts tonight, leaving no goalies left for tomorrow, in theory.  John Gibson has indeed been confirmed as the starter for the Ducks tonight, when they finish their year.  The duo start the night 11 points back of 2nd place and 14 points up on 4th and getting two starts and the potential for a bunch of points looks pretty good for them, heading into tomorrow's long day of hockey.

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