Esoteric Stuff

We gave up 9 goals last night and the Rangers gave up 8 tonight. HaHa!!!

The Rangers have fallen to 7th place in the Esoteric Standings

Another lose by the Rangers and a win by the Sabres, Canes, and the Kitty Cats and the Rangers fall to 10th place in the Esoteric points attainable standings.

The Islanders on the other hand are now tied with TB for last in the entire league. Only problem is we have more wins to their ties, thus TB gets the tiebreaker.

100 Years Ago Today

I know I bust on Shaman a lot but a big part of this year he spent dealing with saying goodbye to his Grandmother. I know what he was going through as I was really close with mine as well. There were a bunch of reasons from a family perspective why but one of the other big reasons was that she allowed myself and Pat the ability to nurture our Islander Fandom when we were kids. Every now and then you may catch a glimpse of those great times spent with my grandmother, times of Stanley Cups and Victory Iced Tea.

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She past away 8 years ago in October and it still feels like yesterday. One of the things that she was most proud of was that she was a resident of East Meadow for her whole life. I also suppose that is why I am so supportive of the Lighthouse project in making our home a better place to live.

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I bring this all up because if she were alive today, we would be celebrating her 100th birthday.

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Happy Birthday Grandma and to all the grandmas out there that were always there with a 50 pound pocket book full of those pink mint candies that were always covered in fuzz that you only see at a discount drug store on the bottom shelf. It has been 8 years since I had one.

Esoteric - I've got issues with the Rangers

I have talked about this before and I will talk about it again. Can the Rangers stop laying waste to extra points where ever they go?

It is really screwing with my esoteric predictions.

The Rangers have now played in 31 games. They have played in 10 "extra-inning" games. That is 10 extra points they have given because they couldnt just win or simply lose. 10 games of 31 is about a third of all ranger games have been 3-point games.

Another way to look at it is that 31 rounds up to 32 games and of the 10 games that went to OT or SO, 8 of them had conference implications. Simply stated, a quarter of all Ranger games have strewn extra points across the conference.

I for one don't like it. Especially when the rangers have won 8 of those 10 decisions again showing how they have given away extra points.

Tonights game versus the Thrashers they helped our quest in the Tavares Sweepstakes by giving Atlanta that point before the Blueskirts went on to win.

I still don't like it though. Am I the only one that this bothers?

Esoteric Standings 12/09/2008

EASTERN CONFERENCE (29)
1. Boston - 42 [27] ------- vs. 8. Buffalo - 29 [27]
2. NY Ranjerks - 38 [30] -- vs. 7. New Jersey - 30 [24]
3. Washington - 33 [28] --- vs. 6. Philadelphia - 34 [27](14W)
4. Montreal - 37 [27] ----- vs. 5. Pittsburgh - 34 [27](15W)
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OUT OF PLAY-OFFS
9. Carolina - 29 [28] -0
10. Florida - 27 [27] -2
11. Toronto - 26 [28] -3
12. Ottawa - 25 [25] -4
13. NY Islanders - 22 [28] -7
14. Atlanta - 21 [26] -8
15. Tampa Bay - 20 [27] -9
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WESTERN CONFERENCE (30)
1. San Jose - 46 [27] ----- vs. 8. Nashville - 30 [27]
2. Detroit - 40 [26] ------ vs. 7. Minnesota - 31 [26]
3. Vancouver - 35 [29] ---- vs. 6. Chicago - 31 [25]
4. Calgary - 33 [28](16W) - vs. 5. Anaheim - 33 [28](15W)
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OUT OF PLAY-OFFS
9. Colorado - 29 [28] -1
10. Edmonton - 28 [26] -2
11. St. Louis - 27 [26] -3
12. Phoenix - 26 [27](12W) -4
13. Los Angeles - 26 [27](11W) -4
14. Columbus - 25 [27] -5
15. Dallas - 24 [26] -6
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405 games played - 101 into OT - 25.1%.
101 OT games - 58 end in shootout = 57.8% OR 14.4% of ALL games end
in shootout.
Yesterday - 23 goals scored in 4 games = 5.75 goals per game.
Total - 2,363 goals scored in 405 games = 5.84 gpg.
2,363 goals minus 58 SO goals = 2,305 = 5.67 gpg minus shootout.
There have been 46 shutouts = 1 per 8.71 games.
The eastern conference is 38-45-14 for 90 out of a possible 194 points
against the western conference. That equates to 46.4%.
The Isles have scored 73 goals = 2.61 gpg.
The Isles have allowed 98 goals = 3.50 gpg.

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Esoteric Situation

Tomorrows rags vs atlanta game is pretty big.

We need atlanta to beat the rags for sure.

So you know, with tonights loss we are now tied for last place in points attainable with TB. We have 22 points and have played 28 games. They have 20 points but have played 27 games. Thus we can achieve the same point total as of right now which is 130 points.

130 points is all we can score for the total of the rest of the season. Get it? One hundred thirty. If you need a conservative 94 points to make the playoffs. (I normally say 90 but with the rags giving away 3 points games like Christmas candy I say 94 will be a safe bet to make the playoffs this year). That means we can only give up 36 points or lose 18 more games.

To put this in perspective, we have played 28 games so far this season. In those 28 games we have won 10 games. That means we have lost 18 games.

If we extrapolate this out we will be mathematically eliminated during game #57 on Feb 18th at MSG. Blech!!!!!

For this reason I say we let all our injured players stay out and heal. There is no reason why Ricky should come back at all. I also think that keeping Bailey up was a mistake as well.

Take a Moment to Remember

Stolen from Forever1940's Stat trick

Visit Forever1940's blog at forever1940.blogspot.com


Ten days and one period ago, all the Isles had to do was hold off the Penguins in the third period to get back to NHL .500. Four losses in five games suggest that NHL .500 may be a long ways off. On to the trick:

1. The Thrashers have outscored the Isles 8-1 in the last 4 periods, and 5-0 in the third period this season.

2. Atlanta has beaten the Isles in regulation in consecutive games for the first time since winning the first two games between the franchises in 1999.

3. Bill Guerin' first minute pp goal was the 397th goal of his NHL career.

and a few more....

4. The Isles have won consecutive home games only once since February.

5. The penalties started early and ended late. The Isles earned a power play only 19 seconds into the game; there was a scrum that produced 42 minutes of penalties with 19 seconds to play.

6. Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and two assists for Atlanta.

7. The Isles have allowed 24 goals in their last five games -- they haven't allowed more in a five-game stretch since December 2005.

8. Blake Comeau had three shots and three assists in his NHL season debut. He played Friday night for Bridgeport, where his game was reffed by Jamie Koharski. Jamie's dad, Don, was one of tonight's refs.

9. Josh Bailey led the Isles forwards in first period ice-time (7:16) but played only 9:20 the rest of the way.

10. Brendan Witt had eight hits and five blocked shots. Three of the blocks came on one shift, all on shots by Kovalchuk.

Up next: The Isles begin a 4-game trip in Toronto. The Isles won the series last year, 5 points to 4. They went 5-3-0 against the Leafs under Nolan; the Leafs are the only Eastern Conference team that the Isles have not played this season.