When 82 isn’t enough, play 83
PHILADELPHIA — Who knows if the NHL kind of came up on the fly with this now not-necessary, triple tiebreak, play-in game between the Flyers and Panthers, but the league should adopt a Game 83 whenever teams are tied in points and Regulation/Overtime Wins (ROW) for a final conference tournament spot.
Forget this small-sample, season-series stuff, since inter-divisional opponents might wind up their three-game sets before the Winter Classic. Forget this ludicrous goal-differential component that includes one for and against, respectively, for each shootout victory and defeat.
One tiebreak and one tiebreak only for the final playoff spot. ROW.
Well, we lied. Not ROW. The league shouldn’t use ROW at all as a tiebreak. The first tiebreak should be RW — Regulation Wins. It is foolish to equate victories gained in three-on-three overtime, in which the loser gets a point, with those gained in 60 minutes of regulation hockey.
If Sixth Avenue won’t award a threepoint premium for regulation victories, the least it can do is eliminate OT victories entirely from the tiebreak procedure and reduce the significance of gimmicks, even the ones that are generally entertaining.
Under ROW, the Flyers and Panthers were tied with 39 apiece entering Saturday. Under the Slap Shots tiebreak — if the Board wanted to ram it through, they could call it The Avery Rule — the Puddy Tats would be the cat’s meow, with 36 RW to the Flyers’ 30.
By the way, this hypothetical play-in would be regarded as a regular-season match, so Claude Giroux could theoretically win the Art Ross Trophy with a Game 83 explosion. Bizarre, maybe, and oh, would the Connor McDavid Army howl, but that’s the way Eddie Mathews won the 1959 NL homerun title, slamming his 46th in Game 156 — the second-game of the Braves’ two-game, playoff defeat to the Dodgers — to thus break a tie with Ernie Banks.
But you knew that.
We’ve noted before how post-Original Six goaltenders are under-represented in the Hall of Fame, but the Panthers’ Roberto Luongo could/should break the induction ringed ceiling for goaltenders of the post-WHA/NHL amalgamation era.
If and when the 39-year-old retires, that is. If and when he doesn’t win a Cup before he hangs up his skates.
For Luongo, fourth in NHL all-time victories with 471 entering Saturday, stands to become the first goaltender since Tony Esposito in 1988 to be elected to the Hall without a Cup victory, and honestly, there shouldn’t be much debate about his worthiness.
Esposito and Ed Giacomin (Class of ’87), by the way, are not just the only two ringless goaltenders of the post-Original Six era to be inducted, they are the only two goalies since Charlie Rayner (1973) to be voted into the Hall without winning the Cup.
You know the old saying about how Joe Louis was a credit to his race — the human race? Well, insert the names Henrik and Daniel Sedin, and you get the picture of how the twins represented themselves across the entirety of their NHL careers.
The finale in Vancouver on Thursday, in which Daniel scored the OT winner on a feed from Henrik, seemed choreographed for the pair of admirable artists.
“That’s what sports is about, right, moments like that?” Henrik Lundqvist-said. “It gave me goosebumps.”
Garth Snow, general manager of the Islanders, by the numbers: 12 years on the job, 12 first-round draft choices, five topfive picks, four playoff seasons, one playoff round victory.
Though this is true: The Scott Malkin-Jon Ledecky ownership, and not Snow, determined it was prudent to allow John Tavares to dictate his course through the season and thus hold the franchise hostage, even if politely.
So look, Vegas is the happy story of the year, but the Devils are not far behind the Golden Knights, and Colorado is not far behind New Jersey.
If Vegas GM George McPhee started with nothing, isn’t it fair to suggest Ray Shero started at less than zero when he took over Lou Lamoriello’s chair?
Will be interesting to see whether the Devils sign Joey Anderson, their 2016 thirdround, 73rd-overall selection out of Minnesota Duluth playing in Saturday’s Frozen Four final against Notre Dame, then add the 19-year-old winger to the postseason roster.
As I am voting for postseason awards, I will honor the NHL’s request not to reveal my choices, but I can tell you that my first tier of Hart candidates features Taylor Hall and Nathan MacKinnon, and my second includes (in no particular order) Giroux, Anze Kopitar, Eric Staal, Evgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin, Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand and McDavid.
Bon Voyage to Stan Fischler, a touchstone of my youth, adolescence, middle-age, and well, now. Unique, genuine and generous, Fischler became the voice of New York’s hockey lifetime. He’d be The Entertainer if Eddie Shack wasn’t.
May the wind always be at his sails.
Finally, you don’t have to be a hockey parent to understand the grief that is sweeping through our community. We all put our kids on buses to chase their dreams. Our hearts break for Humboldt.