I got to watch both Canadiens’ games on the weekend, which was good. Moreso because they came away with three out of four points, which brings them into a tie for 6th. They’re one point away from clinching a playoff berth, with 6 games to play, which is to say that they’re virtually assured of a trip to the post season - especially with how they’re playing lately.

The interesting thing is that suddenly the Oilers are winning, and are actually in a playoff position right now. That means that all six Canadian teams are in the playoffs at this very moment. The Oilers are on the bubble - they have to keep winning - but the other 5 are virtually guaranteed a spot. I don’t honestly remember the last time 6 Canadian teams were in the playoffs, but I have to believe it was before Winnipeg and Quebec moved to Phoenix and Colorado respectively. The truly interesting thing is that as of right now, the only Canadian teams would wind up playing another Canadian team in the first round are Toronto/Ottawa. This could mean that 5 will advance, or only 1 will. It’s an interesting situation at any rate.

The real rant here though, is on the overtime loss point. Going into the playoffs, a team like Boston, with 7 overtime losses, and 14 ties (14!!!) would have home ice advantage over the leafs, who have 4 more wins than them. The league rewards ties far too much, and the end result is that there are a lot of ties (look at the West, where only Calgary and Columbus have less than 10 ties.) That leads to less excitement in the late stages of a tie game, as both teams lock down defensively, and take few chances offensively, just to ensure the single point from making it to OT. There’s talk of going to a three point game system (wins worth 3, ties/OT Losses 1, OT wins 2(?)) To a certain extent it makes more sense than what they’re doing now, and it should result in more games being decided in regulation time. The only problem I have with it is that it changes the mark of excellence. They’ve already changed it enough with the OT Loss point - there are lots of teams out there who have never hit the 100 point mark without the OT Loss points (I’m lookin’ at you Toronto) and it would be nice to see some of that history preserved. At the same time, the 82 game schedule, and 30 team league is quite different than the 18-60 game schedule they played “back in the day.” (for some definition of “the day”)

Simpson’s quote of the day: “I think we got our umbrellas switched.” - Grandpa Simpson