200th Win and Blog # 50! 3/30 Results, 3/31 Picks

* Pre-Skate *

It wasn't my greatest night, but I finally hit win number 200 with my picks. Coincidentally, this also happens to be my 50th post. Funny how that worked out. I'm proud of the 200 wins (I obviously hate that it took this long) but I'm more proud of post number 50. That's a month and twenty days straight without missing a day. I'm glad I follow through with this thing. I felt pretty sure I'd end up abandoning the blog like I have done with other blogs that are more centric to me. By the way, if anyone reads this, thanks for doing so. It's a ton of fun doing something I enjoy.

My next thing to bring up is with the playoffs closing in I'm likely to have to a new format. I don't know that I want to pick every night like I do because it'll get redundant. I'll make my picks for the series and probably just keep each series up to date and comment as necessary. I'll keep a record of my series victories and losses rather than individual games. At the end of the regular season, I'll post my complete record and stats that I have. After that, I'll hold those numbers and compare next season. I hope I'm still blogging then!

- 200th Win Stats -

This covers from the beginning which was February 7th, 2011 until the 200th win on March 30th, 2011. OT/W's stand for picks/games that I won due to overtime. OT/L's stand for picks/games that I lose due to overtime. SO/W's stand for picks/games that I won due to a shootout. Finally, SO/L's stand for picks/games that I lost as a result of a shootout. I'm also listing how many nights I was perfect with the most games I won on a night and the least to achieve a Perfect Night. My Terrible Nights count how many times I lost all the games in one night. Same as Perfect Nights, I'll list the most and least amount of games I lost. I feel like that gives a decent average or medium.

Game Nights : 53
Games : 354
Wins : 201
Losses : 153
Win % : 56.7%
OT/W's : 27
OT/L's : 22
SO/W's : 21
SO/L's : 24
Perfect Nights : 6 (Most games won in one night : 5) (Least games won in one night for a Perfect Night : 2)
Terrible Nights : 1 (Most and least games lost in one night : 3)

I do wish I had a higher winning percentage, but I still can't be disappointed with 201 out of 354. I've always kept track of the shootout and overtime results just to see if in the end they mattered. As you can see, they really don't. I've won more games than I've lost via overtime, but the shootout has caused me to lose a few extra games than I've won. Fair trade off, if not a bit of an advantage. Definitely pleased with my results so far. I'll have the same stats ready on April 10th which is the last day of the season.

* Results *

Although I lost one extra game than I won, I'm still pleased that I was able to win just one to reach my milestone. The night was pretty freaky in some regards. The Rangers and Sabres had a goaltending duel which didn't include the Sabres injured Ryan Miller. Jhonas Enroth stopped 23 shots for his first NHL career shutout. Amazing considering the Rangers have some decent scoring players. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 34 of 35 shots and came up just short of adding another shutout to his league-leading total of 11. Looks like that was a great game. The Carolina Hurricanes did a great job of taking it to the Canadiens beating them 6-2. I'd consider that a surprise, though Carolina isn't a bad team whatsoever. I figured the Canes had a tougher night with the Capitals than the Canadiens did with the Thrashers the night before. Bad thinking on my part. The Devils eked out a win against the Islanders winning 3-2 which made for my 200th win. Though they are still technically alive for a playoff spot, New Jersey's past few games sealed their fate. Unless there is a total break down by the Rangers or Canadiens, they're out. The surprise of the night goes to the St. Louis Blues who slaughtered the Red Wings 10-3. I watched the scoring clips and it was amazing how sloppy Detroit was. The goaltending made mistakes and when they could have used defense, the defense made mistakes. St. Louis capitalized on those mistakes and scored a lot of workers and garbage goals. A goal is a goal though. Detroit obviously wasn't too far out of the game as they put up 44 shots on the board. Joey MacDonald of the Red Wings was pulled and then reinserted after Thomas McCollum gave up three goals on eight shots. MacDonald finished with seven goals against on 39 shots. Amazing. The Ducks outworked the Flames in Calgary. I watched the final period of that one and wasn't surprised. I'd say Calgary is out of the playoffs. With only four games remaining, they would have needed to win all their games. Amazing that they are out considering the talent on the team. The Ducks were impressive and I have to say I like them to do well in the playoffs. The game also saw Corey Perry take over the goal scoring lead from Steven Stamkos. Results for Wednesday are below.

3/30/2011 - Wednesday

Rangers at Sabres : Pick - Rangers : Result -- 1-0 Sabres : Wrong : 199-151
Canadiens at Hurricanes : Pick - Canadiens : Result -- 6-2 Hurricanes : Wrong : 199-152
Islanders at Devils : Pick - Devils : Result -- 3-2 Devils : Correct : 200-152
Blues at Red Wings : Pick - Red Wings : Result -- 10-3 Blues : Wrong : 200-153
Ducks at Flames : Pick - Ducks : Result -- 4-2 Ducks : Correct : 201-153

=Dumbest Pick of the Night=
Canadiens at Hurricanes : I think I overrate good teams against the Hurricanes. Though they aren't in the playoffs, the Canes are making a decent push to make it as they're in ninth behind only three points from the Rangers. The Canadiens are currently slated to make the playoffs but I think I overrate them time to time. I think I'm inconsistent when I go with them. I should have given the Hurricanes more respect. They're playing for their playoff lives whereas the Canadiens can win one here or there and still make the playoffs.

=Hardest Pick of the Night=
Islanders at Devils : Kind of funny that I choose the one game that includes two teams that aren't in the playoff picture. It was easy to believe the Devils would win this game because of their hot run, but they've cooled off lately. I like the chip the Islanders have had on their shoulder since the Pittsburgh brawl. The Isles play a tough game despite their record and I could have easily seen myself picking them. Tough game considering the variables.

=Easiest Game of the Night=
I don't deserve to place a game here. My wins were close and needed some thought. I lost all the others.

=Got Owned Game of the Night=
Blues at Red Wings : As described above. Wow. Detroit didn't look too hot tonight. Every team has a bad game, maybe this one was theirs. Props to St. Louis for embarrassing the better team. A little too late for St. Louis to make the playoffs, but they've looked pretty good at times.

* Picks *

I'd go into detail about how each game is important, but I think you get that by now. Fringe teams, those holding low spots, and those holding division leads are clinging to points. Every game is important of these 5-7 games for each team. You'll see some teams rest players like Washington did with Alex Ovechkin. Others will be sticking to a specific style to hopefully find their niche for a deep playoff run. I'm out of gusto writing wise but I'll leave a couple of thoughts. The Stars absolutely must win against San Jose if they expect to get a playoff spot. They haven't won in four games. It's too late in the season to be doing that. The Kings and Canucks could have been the game of the night but I think Vancouver gets the nod since they have the hotter record AND the Kings don't have Anze Kopitar playing (out, broken ankle I think). My Flyers take on the Thrashers and I think they also need to win. They need to keep ahead of the Penguins and Capitals if they expect to be the first seed in the Eastern Conference. I'll be watching that game. Picks for the last day of March, a Thursday, below.

3/31/2011 - Thursday

Maple Leafs at Bruins ==> Bruins
Rangers at Islanders ==> Rangers
Thrashers at Flyers ==> Flyers
Blue Jackets at Capitals ==> Capitals
Penguins at Lightning ==> Penguins
Senators at Panthers ==> Senators
Oilers at Wild ==> Wild
Predators at Avalanche ==> Predators
Kings at Canucks ==> Canucks
Stars at Sharks ==> Sharks