Featured Post

The Skinny: Rangers 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny" By Eric Hornick Game 68 Rangers 5, Isles 2 Johnny Brodzinski broke a 2-2 tie with 4:59 left in the middle period and ...

Thursday, April 04, 2013

Isles have weakest remaining schedule in NHL

The Isles enter tonight's game in Washington in 9th place in the East.  While they have the same 39 points the 7th place Rangers and 8th place Devils have, both metro-opponents have 12 games to play while the Isles only have 11.

One thing the Isles have going for them is the weakest remaining schedule in the NHL (as compiled by the league itself).

Isles opponents have a .513 point percentage (their opponents average 1.026 points per games played), which is slightly lower than Winnipeg's .519 and the Rangers' .525.    (Anaheim has the easiest schedule in the West at .532 but there have been many more "3-point games" in the West this season.)

The toughest Eastern Schedules:
New Jersey .594  (next six are all vs. Northeast, including five vs. playoff teams)
Carolina .580
Buffalo .575

When you look ahead to the last week of the regular season, while the Isles will end on the road, they will end against three teams who could miss the playoffs (Carolina, Philly, Buffalo).  The Rangers and Devils each have four games in the final 7 days of the season, including two against each other.  The Rangers other games are in Florida and Carolina while the Devils will have home games with Montreal and Pittsburgh.

 
Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

No comments: