Maple Leafs Fan Cheering Guide

After the dust settles tonight, the Leafs could find themselves anywhere from 5th to 8th in the East. Needless to say, it's a very big night for the Buds so let's get right to it.

New Jersey Devils (-0.3) at New York Rangers (+0.2)

New Jersey sits 1 point up on the Leafs with a game in hand and are riding a 4 game win streak as they head across the Hudson to MSG tonight. A Blue Shirts win would go a long way in stopping the Devils running away with a Playoff berth. It's Go Rangers for this one.

New York Islanders (+0.04) at Philadelphia Flyers (-0.02)

Despite great early season play, the Flyers have hit the skids recently losing two straight and sit only 4 points ahead of the Leafs with a game in hand. Currently it looks like 4 Atlantic Division teams will make the dance, but inter-divisional coming up in the home stretch may just relegate one of PHI, PIT, or NJD to the bottom half of the conference. Therefore, we should all hope for general mediocrity amongst that bunch. Go Islanders is your cheer.

Florida Panthers (+0.2) at Washington Capitals (0.0)

Somebody from the South East has to make the Playoffs, and right now it looks as though the runner-up will miss the Playoffs entirely meaning this game doesn't hurt the Leafs chances at all. That being said, if we jump over to Ottawa's chance page, we can see a Florida win benefits their chances more, so tonight we cheer on the Capitals.

More match ups and their impact on the Leafs after the jump.

Pittsburgh Penguins (+0.2) at Montreal Canadiens (-0.1)

Sports Club Stats playoff chances work only to calculate a team's chance of making the Playoffs; not the chance of that team getting a higher seed. Regardless of the odds, I don't think the Habs have a snowball's chance in Hell of making the Playoffs so I don't see them as a threat for catching the Leafs. What I do care about is the Leafs catching the Penguins and putting more teams between themselves and 9th place. So I'm calling an audible here, going against the odds, and calling for you to cheer on a Penguins loss tonight which would put the Leafs equal to them in points and games played, but above them in the ROW tie-breaker.