Technically, It's Sunday: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Florida Panthers ... New York, New York ... Scoreboard Watch, Family Guy and the Standings

Getting an early start on Sunday because I can't sleep.

Since it is after midnight, it is Sunday. So here's Sunday's pregame post written while watching Hockey Night In Canada After Hours, live from the inner bowl of Edmonton's Rexall Place.

Hey, there's the Coke machine that stole my loonie!

-- Well, the Rangers did the Panthers a huge favor on Saturday by losing to Boston. Loved seeing Tim Thomas charge Sean Avery after he ''accidentally'' popped the Bruins goalie in the head as he skated by during a television timeout.

Avery went to the box (and seemed to be pouting as if he shouldn't have been sent there) and the punch less Rangers got shutout.

The Rangers, it should be noted, still control their own destiny and make it to the big dance with wins in their final three no matter what the Panthers do. Florida trails the Rangers by two points but really it's three; the Panthers would lose the first tiebreaker with the Rangers.

If Florida wins its final four games, those eight points equal 95 points. The Rangers could win their final three to get six points and 95 points. Then, the Panthers would be trying to pass Montreal. And that's a whole different pot of Tim Hortons.

So, not worrying about Montreal right now, lets look at what the Panthers need to do to knock out the Rangers.

Best scenario: Florida goes out and wins four straight games for the first time this season, end with 95 points and the Rangers lose one of their final three and only end up with 93/94 points.

Here are some other scenarios for the Florida endangered cats:

Remember, Rangers have three games left and 89 points; Florida has four games left and 87. Florida has to be one point ahead of New York by the end of next Sunday's Rangers-Flyers game from the Spectrum.

-- IF Florida goes 3-0-1 (94 points), Rangers can only go 2-1-0 (93). New York at 2-0-1 knocks out the Panthers.

-- IF Florida goes 3-1-0/2-0-2 (93 points), Rangers can go 1-0-2 (93) and make it. A record of 0-0-3 or 1-2 would not cut it.

-- IF Florida goes 2-2-0 (91 points), good luck. Rangers would have to go 0-2-1 (90) for Florida to beat them out.

-- How about 1-0-3 Mr. Richards? Well that's 92 points. Rangers could go 0-0-3 and make it in. And they would still have one more win to win the tiebreaker. So, Florida could still get in the playoffs with one win in these final four, but they would need three overtime losses and New York to go 0-1-2 or worse.

-- Of course, the Rangers could 0-3-0 in their final stretch and Florida would only need to come up with three points in the final four games. In that scenario, the Sabres are back in play and could leapfrog both teams.

One week left kids. One week left.

-- If Florida were to win its next three and New York lose its next two (with at least one in regulation), the Panthers would beat out the Rangers by Thursday night (but might still have to worry about Buffalo). In that scenario, Florida goes up to 93 points and the best the Rangers could do is 92.

That would mean a Florida win over Pitt, then road wins in Philly and Atlanta. Good luck with that one.

  -- One thing the Panthers have going for them is that Miami Mojo.

The Marlins knocked the Mets out of the playoffs the past two seasons; this year, the Dolphins k nocked out the Jets.

Could the Panthers make it a New York Trifecta?

We won't even get into the Knicks.

-- PS: Yanni is coming. Don't know if you heard. You may, however, have seen it somewhere. Especially if you drive on the Sawgrass. You wouldn't, however, know there might be a hockey game inside that big building.

-- Shameless plug for me: Trying out this Twitter thing. Don't know if I like it, sure don't know exactly what it does.

But follow along if you want; if you don't, I'll simply pull the plug. No problem with me. Also, fixed the link from before...

https://twitter.com/OnFrozenPond

-- Good night eh...

-- Saturday's Games (and how they affected the Panthers): Well, the Rangers losing was big. Panthers can pull into a tie for eighth with a win today over the Penguins. Florida also liked seeing Buffalo lose since they stay two points back in the race.

-- Sunday's Games (and who the Panthers would be rooting for if they weren't so busy watching a new episode of The Simpsons as well as a full hour of Family Guy)

Nothing of interest. Enjoy your cartoons fellas.

-- The Standings (presented by the Pittsburgh Pirates – who have been out of the postseason even longer than the Panthers; courtesy, as always, of TSN.ca. If they are wrong, don't blame me.)

Eastern
Rank	Team	GP	W	L	OT	PTS	GF	GA	Home	Away	Last 10	Streak
1	y-Boston	78	51	17	10	112	260	181	28-6-6	23-11-4	8-1-1	Won 6
2	y-Washington	78	47	23	8	102	254	230	28-9-3	19-14-5	6-2-2	Lost 1
3	x-New Jersey	79	49	26	4	102	237	201	27-11-1	22-15-3	3-6-1	Won 2
4	Philadelphia	78	42	25	11	95	255	229	23-12-4	19-13-7	5-4-1	Lost 1
5	Carolina	79	44	28	7	95	227	218	25-13-1	19-15-6	8-1-1	Won 8
6	Pittsburgh	78	42	27	9	93	247	229	24-13-3	18-14-6	6-1-3	Lost 1
7	Montreal	78	41	27	10	92	241	233	24-8-7	17-19-3	5-3-2	Won 3
8	NY Rangers	79	40	30	9	89	201	213	24-11-4	16-19-5	5-4-1	Lost 2
9	Florida	78	38	29	11	87	219	221	20-12-7	18-17-4	4-4-2	Lost 1
10	Buffalo	78	38	31	9	85	235	227	22-14-3	16-17-6	4-4-2	Lost 1
11	Ottawa	78	34	34	10	78	207	225	21-12-6	13-22-4	6-4-0	Won 1
12	Toronto	79	32	34	13	77	240	287	15-15-9	17-19-4	5-5-0	Lost 2
13	Atlanta	78	34	38	6	74	243	265	17-19-2	17-19-4	7-3-0	Won 4
14	Tampa Bay	79	24	37	18	66	202	263	12-16-11	12-21-7	1-5-4	Lost 6
15	NY Islanders	78	26	43	9	61	196	255	17-16-6	9-27-3	3-6-1	Won 1
Western
Rank	Team	GP	W	L	OT	PTS	GF	GA	Home	Away	Last 10	Streak
1	y-San Jose	78	51	16	11	113	249	194	31-4-4	20-12-7	6-3-1	Lost 1
2	y-Detroit	77	49	19	9	107	283	230	26-8-4	23-11-5	5-4-1	Lost 3
3	x-Calgary	78	44	28	6	94	244	237	25-10-4	19-18-2	4-6-0	Lost 1
4	x-Chicago	77	42	24	11	95	249	208	23-9-7	19-15-4	5-3-2	Won 2
5	x-Vancouver	78	42	26	10	94	239	215	22-11-5	20-15-5	6-3-1	Lost 2
6	Columbus	78	40	29	9	89	218	217	25-12-2	15-17-7	5-2-3	Lost 1
7	Anaheim	79	41	32	6	88	235	227	19-17-3	22-15-3	9-1-0	Won 4
8	Nashville	79	39	32	8	86	203	218	24-12-4	15-20-4	5-2-3	Won 1
9	St. Louis	79	38	31	10	86	224	231	22-13-5	16-18-5	6-2-2	Lost 1
10	Minnesota	78	37	32	9	83	200	189	21-11-7	16-21-2	5-4-1	Won 1
11	Edmonton	79	37	33	9	83	227	241	17-16-6	20-17-3	4-6-0	Won 1
12	Dallas	79	35	34	10	80	223	248	20-16-5	15-18-5	2-6-2	Won 1
13	Phoenix	78	34	37	7	75	197	236	22-14-3	12-23-4	6-3-1	Won 3
14	Los Angeles	77	31	35	11	73	194	224	16-15-8	15-20-3	2-6-2	Lost 3
15	Colorado	77	31	44	2	64	193	250	18-20-0	13-24-2	2-7-1	Lost 8

Comments

[Karl]

"So what you're telling me is there's a chance..."

Too many scenarios, too much math involved for me. Pretty much, winning out gives us the best chance to get past the Rangers, right? Right.

[Matt Abraham]

Was that a dumb and dumber quote . If so that was awesome

[John]

Unfortunately i think we can stick a fork in the panthers....they're done

[Karl]

lol... I must have seen that movie dozens of times, and every time I watch it, I find something new to love about it. Maybe that should be Moller's next goal call. The Cats do still have a chance, after all...

[Slater]

If the Panthers go 3-1, and the Rangers do not win 2 of their last 3, the Panthers are in.

[James Mirtle]

Jeez, not having that tiebreaker is a killer for Florida. They're going to need to win a ton of games to close out the year here.

[David]

What happens if the Panthers and Rangers tie in points and have the same number of wins?