Wednesday 4/10/24
Ovechkin got his 30th last night in the Capitals' win over the Red Wings. Now they're in that last Wild Card spot. I'm invested in this three-team Wild Card race between the Caps, Pens, and Wings (four-team race if you want to count the Flyers, but it doesn't feel like it's going to be them to me). When the playoffs start, you are going to have a team that's essentially been playing playoff games for a while take on the top seed who hasn't. Things can get sticky for that top seed when that occurs. At the mid-way point this year, Ovechkin was on pace for 14 goals. This is his eighteenth season with 30 or more goals. That's nuts.
The Bruins lost to the Canes. Boston has a Jeremy Swayman problem. That means they have a goalie problem, since they're all about rotating these two guys, and their other goalie has a meltdown-in-the-clutch problem. Night after night when I look at Swayman's stats, I'm seeing a save percentage under .900. I believe the game before this last one it was over that, but it's his norm since the All-Star break.
He has no chance of winning this award this season, but David Pastrnak is a viable choice for the Hart. Look at the gap in scoring on the Bruins between him and the next guy, who is Brad Marchand. As I wrote in these pages earlier, Pastrnak has played a much more complete game this year. He's improved. MacKinnon will probably win the MVP, but look at some of his teammates--lot of talent on the Avalanche. Pastrnak's absence would make for a bigger hole in the Bruins' line-up than MacKinnon's would in the Avalanche's.
But the hockey games tomorrow are what I'm most keen on right now. BU/Denver in the first game, BC/Michigan in the second. Personally, I'd rather play first. What happens if the first game goes to double OT? You just sit there and wait? I guess BC plays in the second game because that's prime time and they're the number one seed in the country, but it's hockey, which is a niche thing anyway, and college hockey, which is an extra niche thing, so it seems like that shouldn't matter and the top seed should play first. I bet most players would prefer to. I want a BC/BU final, but the idea of pulling for BU in that first game is distasteful to me.
