Who To Cheer For, Part 2

The Caps may have won, but they are going to need some help along the way. Some good and bad things that came out of last night:

Buffalo Sabres 7, Carolina Hurricanes 1 - So the Hurricanes are human after all. Just when Cam Ward was looking like a brick wall, the young goaltender allows 4 goals on seven shots. Ouch. Is it just a hiccup along the road, or did the 'Canes peak too soon? The Caps would have liked to see the Buffaslugs lose one to jump into 9th in the Conference, but if this brings the 'Canes down to human strength that might not be a bad thing.

Florida 3, NY Rangers 2 - Ugh! Florida just beat a very good team, and stopped the Rangers cold to keep pace with the Caps. The Capitals could have used a loss by the Miami squad, but that just wasn't in the cards last night was it!

So who do we have on tap for tonight:

Philadelphia at Boston: This is a toss up. Both teams are hovering at the 8th place spot, a spot the Caps would like to be at. I think at this point we would like to see Philly win here and keep Boston on the down slide. I think the Flyers are going to make the playoffs anyway, but Boston just seems catchable. I wish both could lose, but what can you do? Worse case scenario is that it becomes a 3 point game with both teams getting points and distancing themselves from teams surging.

Buffalo at Toronto: Another toss up. If the Leafs win, they are tied with the Caps in the Eastern Conference standings, if the Buffaslugs win they move farther away from the Caps. As much as we would like to not see 5 teams tied with the Caps down the stretch, I am going with the Leafs here. Keeping Buffalo within striking distance (a single standing point) is more important than three teams tied at 76 points (and the Sabres 3 points ahead of the Caps).

Those are the only games that directly affect the Caps at this point. As you can see, not a cheery outlook tonight. Like I have said before the Caps just need to keep winning.