Week Ahead: Apr 5 to 11
Anybody have anything we can say we're playing for at this point? Anybody?
It's the three teams that come immediately before Ottawa when listed alphabetically, scheduled in reverse order!
 | Senators at Rangers | |
Previous game@Avalanche, Thursday, April 3rd | Next gameHurricanes, Tuesday, April 8th | |
HotMats Zuccarello - 5P (2G, 3A) in last 3 GP | ColdBrad Richards - 0P in last 3 GP | |
The Rangers enter the week sitting fairly firmly in the playoffs, and just need one more point to punch their ticket (or for Toronto and New Jersey to lose).
Henrik Lundqvist appears to be mostly back in top form, with a .936 SV% and a 1.9 GAA in his last 10 games. That is mostly though, with a 0.987 (the last game against Ottawa) and a pair of 0.957 games in that stretch. In the other seven games he's posted a .938 and up though, so when he's on he's really on, and he's on much more often than not.
Martin St. Louis continues to flounder with the Rangers. In 16 games, he's posted just four points. With Tampa, he was one point short of a point per game.
Possession wise, they're doing very well. One of their season woes, 5 on 5 shooting percentage, is up about 2% in the last 10 games compared to the season as a whole.
 | Senators at Islanders | |
Previous game@Blue Jackets, Sunday, April 6th | Next game@Canadiens, Thursday, April 10th | |
HotJosh Bailey - 5P (2G, 3A) in last 3 GP | ColdBrock Nelson - 0P in last 7 GP | |
Didn't we just face these guys? Yes, we did.
Not much has changed. Their biggest players are all still out, but they continue to have a better record without them. They went 3-0-0 last week, including the win over Ottawa.
 | Devils at Senators | |
Previous gameFlames, Monday, April 7th | Next gameIslanders, Friday, April 11th | |
HotTravis Zajac - 5P (3G, 2A) in last 3 GP | ColdPatrik Elias - 0P in last 3 GP | |
Unlike Ottawa, the Devils enter the week still in the playoff hunt. Of course, since this game is almost at the end of the week, that might have changed by then. So they might have something to play for, it's hard to tell right now.
Cory Schneider had an absolutely brutal stretch after the Olympic break. In five games, he had a SV% of .831 and a 4.0 GAA. His last 5 games are a different story, averaging 1.2 goals per game and posting a .944 SV%. Martin Brodeur has been less streaky and has been up and down since the break. He's ranged from a .667 to a .968 in those 9 games, with a sub-par average of .904.
Jaromir Jagr, currently the second oldest active player in the NHL, leads the team with 64 points. Elias has put up points at almost the same pace (0.82 to 0.83 for Jagr), but missed a number of games that put him further behind in total points.
Special teams have worked well for the Devils this season. The penalty kill leads the league, largely thanks to the 91% short handed SV% the goalies have posted. The power play is a less impressive but still quite good ninth in the league, though they haven't got as much help from it as they'd like - they're 28th in the league for power play opportunities per game.
