The Central – The Favs vs. Cindy

The Buffalo Sabres (Joel) don’t care what you call them, they just want to take care of business. The CTR’s #15 has the luxury of not being in a strong Division with the CTR #5 of Florida (Marcel) the strongest of the group. With the Panthers just a two-point favorite, there was a chance for Buffalo to get through and face Dallas (Jr) who, without Tampa Bay and Los Angeles, wouldn’t stop the Sabres at that point. Right now, that matchup in the second round looks good. First things first Buffalo has to extend their 19-17 lead on Tuesday, which should be a given with a 14-3 point advantage in the players playing. Vegas winning at home gives the team an 18-point next round, which goes to 21 with LA. The Stars could be walked over, so with some more points this round, Joel can be heading to Cincinnati (Matt) where one of them could be heading to the NHLP Cup Finals. All a way away, yes, but that is what we do. For GM Matt’s Rage, you have to love how things have gone. With the wipeout of Sasquatch, the CTR #3 has gotten more great news thanks to the falling Leafs. GM Chad’s disastrous first round has opened the door for Boston (Ryan), who is the actual favorite with the Leafs' injuries and up 16-10 in a defensive battle. Right now, Boston doesn’t look like any issues in round two for the Rage, who are living large. With all the bullshit this team has been through this season, it must surely feel nice to quiet the Champ and a few other NHLP doubters. This team is good!

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Playing for the Gate

It seems at this point GM Jr is at best playing for the gate in Calgary.  Down 26-24 and not sending on enough without a massive NHLP upset coming from Minnesota. Without the Wild a Flames first round win won’t give them any shot with what the Canucks (Joel) has going down in Vancouver. Joel is moving on; that is a given.  Right now, he has 20 to 31 points coming along for the ride. That isn’t a number the Flames can reach in the best case. The best Jr can hope for outside 3-1 winners collapsing is Edmonton, Minnesota, and Winnipeg winning. GM Shawn can do more in Seattle with Edmonton moving on, the Storm could be a couple of points favorite. Whoever gets through will likely have Green Bay (Ryan) or Colorado (Chad), who are by far the most exciting potential matchup looming in round two. No matter how you slice things, these two teams are going to battle, and both have the potential favorite tag depending on the outcome of the LA and Edmonton series.

CTR #1 for a Reason

The New York Islanders look set up perfectly. The CTR #1 team of GM Ryan’s biggest problem is the potential tourism damage from the beached Whale. Everything is going the Islanders' way and looking ahead to a second-round matchup, not a hell of a lot of worry. Halifax (Shawn) must have both St Louis to win and Holloway and Holloway to return, otherwise, things could be ugly. The Destroyers are up by essentially four points. It seems the 1/2 Chance Stumbers will have a hard time coming back. Without back to back to back wins by Tampa Bay, it ain’t happening. Who would Ryan play coming out of the East Division? That might be the thing we are least sure of, with four teams clinging to their own slim chances of just moving on to round two.

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Moore thee Opportunity

The Memphis Machine (Jr) survived the night. The lead is only three, but the Machine has the lone player playing Tuesday in Moore, who has gotten a point a game. The Machine will be hoping for Moore’s Kings to win and advance, as this could help the second round matchup that is looking like GM Charlie in New York. Memphis was thought to potentially roll through the division if they could win round one. That still hasn’t happened, and every point and man-game now in this series is crucial. GM Charlie is winning on nothing more than having two of three games to play at home in his tie-breaker. That however, should change in a big way tonight. The Rangers are sending out players who have scored 20 of the team's 22 points. GM Scottie answers with just two players who have scored 10, thanks to the unstoppable Danault, who has 7, just two less than Charlie’s McDavid. It still might end up a 6 point advantage with this series playing at least two more games, but that was the Rangers expectations between those two players. With Boldy, Zuccarello, and Barbashev not only playing, playing two more games the Hitmen just don’t seem to have enough left in the tank to pull what would be an upset without Bjorkstrand and L. Hughes injured. The Hitmen are set to lose Knies, Meier, and Hughes for this round, surely ending this series in the Rangers Favor. The Rangers have bucked the losing trend, with short-handed teams in the first round of the NHLP playoffs playing 13-32 (29% win rate) over the past 15 seasons. Although Charlie did have a 6-man team on paper, it is not the typical 6-man team that usually is missing their top scoring player. Lafreniere was the team's 5^th leading scorer and not the typical leading scorer we usually see with 6-man teams. This meant the Rangers had a CTR potential of 29 first-round points, not enough to beat a full seven of GM Scottie until the injury bug hit. The Hitmen’s total of 31 dropped to 23, making Charlie’s 6-man team a big favorite by sheer luck, playing a 7-man team with two injuries. Without McDavid moving forward, the Rangers likely can move on about 10 points to round two, and no chance without the Wild miracle over Vegas. If Edmonton goes through the Rangers are about 20 points next round, likely a four-point underdog versus Memphis and a heavy favorite over Atlantic City, who has nothing without Colorado.

Capital Punishment

Four NHLP GM’s with Washington Capitals players all could use longer series than 5 games, but like Toronto, the Capitals are heading home for game 5 with a chance to end the series, likely ending some NHLP Caps built teams in the process. The Buffalo Sabres (Joel) were not high in the CTR at #15 even though they were only a two-point first-round underdog. Part of the problem the CTR spoke about was that the top 6 players on the team were all expected to play only 5.5 games in the first round. Three are getting 6 and three could end in 5, about right where the CTR had them pegged, and likely meaning a loss to Florida (Marcel), who is down 19-13 in the series. For Marcel that changes tonight. The Panthers top five players, Rantanen, Drouin, Granlund, Cirelli and Machment all play against a zero-point night of the Sabres. So they all get a point each. Marcel will be done 19-18, with the tie-breaker back home in Vegas. The winner here might fair well next round with Dallas (Jr), the competition, and facing what could be anywhere from a Walk-Over to a full team. The Stars have lit up the round, on their way to 40+ but won’t like the look if both the Kings and Blues are gone from the second round of the NHL Playoffs.

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The Knights' Answer is Simple:  Colorado

The Green Bay Knights has a real shot of making a run this playoffs. The GM Ryan team is well up 26-18 and everything is pointing to a matchup with Colorado (Chad) next round. The interesting thing in the NHLP is you never want to cheer for losing one of your teams players. You only have 7 of them. What is compelling here is Ryan might be cheering for his Dallas Star to advance. The issue is if Hintz does advance, he will be not only cancelled by Chad’s Hintz, but Chad’s Avs have Johnston, a potential 6 point player. Ryan is much better of moving forward with the Colorado Avalance in the playoffs.  How much so? Well, there isn’t a Avs player on Vancouver (Joel), Seattle (Shawn) or Calgary (Jr) teams they would play in the Conference Finals and no two Colorado Avs players on any current winning teams right through to the NHL Finals, except his own team in Boston. The only Avs threat comes from Atlantic City (Bryce) and if they don’t come back, down 19-13, they aren’t advancing. If the Knights are to win the Pacific Division they might have to do it next round as underdogs if Dallas Stars are still in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Gamblers Need More from Makar

The Atlantic City Gamblers (Bryce) are a big night away from getting back into their East Division first-round matchup with the Memphis Machine (Jr). All Jr can hope for tonight is to keep as much of his current 6-point lead as he can. Make no mistake, the Gamblers are coming hard. Down 19-13 the Makar led Gamblers send out their other three Avs to join their leader, Necas, Toews, and Nelson (who cancels) and also Benett, Paul and Samoskevich. Combined without Nelson, who’s points don’t affect this series that is 11 points in 21 man-games amongst them. All 6 players will not have a response if Bryce gets one per tonight, the series will be tied. Memphis has hung on without Protas but now faces just possibly one more game from their four Caps. While the Gamblers might be hoping Florida and Tampa Bay can even up their series, where Bryce is getting 2 points a game from the three in that series. The series is getting two more games, so adding a sixth will be a win. The winner here would appear to be getting the NY Rangers (Charlie), but that series is suddenly tied at 22. That series sits idle tonight with only another x for Bjorkstrand, who will likely be the difference it Hamilton (Scottie) loses.

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