Good night: It keeps me warm
The Lead
For real if I controlled an army (one day, Lambert, one day…) I’d be parachuting my troops into Colorado like Red Dawn right this very second.
Last night I didn’t happen to write about the NHL because a. I was busy freaking out over one of the best Lost episodes ever, and b. I was crying.
Well, not really on that second one. Calgary, thanks to its inevitable loss to San Jose plus Colorado’s shootout win in Vancouver, where they hadn’t won all season, was eliminated from the playoffs. I saw it coming. Any idiot on the planet had to have seen it coming. This whole season was an unmitigated disaster from the word go for reasons I won’t get into here, both for the sake of brevity and my sanity, so yeah, not making the playoffs was an eventuality for which I’d been preparing myself for some time.
I don’t even begrudge Colorado, a team I normally can’t stomach and which had been playing terrible hockey for like a month or whatever, making the playoffs in Calgary’s place. Whatever. Hell, the fact that the win was in a shootout didn’t bother me that much, so you know for sure that I was pretty much not all that concerned.
But now the Avs have to go and lose to Edmonton tonight? Really? The OILERS!? The EDMONTON Oilers!? Now that’s something over which I’m pretty goddamn well upset. This is the universe screwing with me, right? Yeah, Craig Anderson played the more important and less-winnable of the two games of this all-road back-to-back, and therefore Petr Budaj, who sucks and is terrible, had to go tonight. But five goals on FORTY-FIVE shots? Whaaaaaat the hell, man. It’s like this night was specifically designed to piss me off. Well, National Hockey League, mission freakin’ accomplished.
The only solace I take is that everyone on the Avalanche is gonna get their heads handed to ‘em by Chicago in about a week’s time. Four games and out. Book it. That’s going to be awesome. They deserve it for losing to the Oilers.
Blackhawks! Avenge me! Avenge me!
Elsewhere…
New York Rangers 5, Toronto 1
Even Aaron Voros had a goal tonight. I think I read he’s been a healthy scratch for 40 games this season. Something crazy like that. Also I’m pretty sure this loss guarantees Toronto finishes in 29th place, which sucks for them but not so much for me because my life is immeasurably worse.
Detroit 4, Columbus 3
Jimmy Howard gave up three goals on 24 shots and still got the win. Last night on Twitter some idiot was trying to tell me that Howard deserves the Calder more than Tuukka Rask, who is first in the league in both GAA and save percentage. Because he has more wins. Yeah guess how many games Rask woulda won playing for a team with an offense like Detroit’s: all of ‘em.
Chicago 6, St. Louis 5
Keith Tkachuk retired. I am very sad about this.
Phoenix 5, Nashville 2
Wojtek Wolski had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes. He has 6-10-16 and five multi-point nights in 16 games since he was traded there. That deal is working well for Phoenix, I think.
April 8th, 2010 at 2:30 am
How is Rask going to win the Calder after Duchene wins it?? /sarcasm
Seriously, if Rask doesn’t’ win it, Calder voting is more rigged and biased than Pro Bowl voting and the NBA draft lottery combined - especially if Howard somehow wins. Imagining how absurdly bad Boston would be without him makes me laugh a little.
April 8th, 2010 at 3:04 am
Hey, take solace: at least Jon Quick failed to get 40 wins for the 5th straight time last night.
April 8th, 2010 at 3:10 am
@Quack
“especially if Howard somehow wins” This statement boggles the mind. Does Rask have a better GAA and SV%? Yes he does. Does he play for a team that embodies the dead puck era? Yes he does. People say that Thomas has been bad this year. By his standards he probably has, but by league standards he’s been pretty solid. He has a 2.55 GAA, .915 SV% and a 16-18-8 record. Chris Osgood on the other hand, has been putrid. A 3.02 GAA, .888 SV% and a 7-9-4 record. If Os-bad plays the entire season for the Wings, they do not make the playoffs because they will have had the 24th best defence (they currently have the 7th best). If Thomas were to play, they would be in the hunt for a playoff spot with the 7th best defence (currently have the 2nd best). That is an amazing gap right there. Rask has also started less games than Thomas, while it isn’t even close between Howard and Osgood. Realistically, both these teams wouldn’t be in the playoffs without each goalie. However, for playing on a team that has had nearly everyone injured at some point, playing for a team with a better record because of him and in a tougher conference, Howard should be this year’s ROY. I would also be willing to bet that Howard would have better numbers than Rask if they played for the same team, for what it’s worth.
April 8th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Man, that’s a long-ass comment that I can’t be bothered to read.
April 8th, 2010 at 9:57 pm
Same here - and it was addressed to me.
I guess the lesson here is: Jonas Gustavsson for Calder?
April 10th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
It’s probably going to Jimmy Howard. Ugh.
April 10th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Ugh Kessel and Raycroft for Rask, Seguin/Hall, 2nd in 2010, and first in 2011.