Predicting the East

For those that were paying attention over the weekend, there were some important clues that came out on Sunday as to who are the real contenders in the East.

Goaltender season is fast approaching and the Eastern Conference landscape has had some dramatic changes over the past week. The most obvious one is the return of future hall of famer Marty Brodeur to the Devils lineup. If you thought they were a threat before, well they have just upped the anty in a big way. Brodeur is 3 for 3 since his return, and two of those games were shut-outs.

You could say that he was pretty excited to get back to play.

The other big change on the Eastern front is the injury to Ryan Miller in Buffalo. They have gone 0-2-1 over their past 3 games and this couldn’t have come at a better time for the Pittsburgh Penguins. They had been sitting on the bubble waiting for an opportunity to grab one of those final playoff spots and within a week of Miller’s injury, they have done just that.

As for what happened on Sunday

People are in general agreement that there are four powerhouses in the East and as per the current standings:
1. Boston
2. New Jersey
3. Washington
4. Philadelphia

The biggest question marks for two of these teams however, is goaltending. If you are trying to figure out which two teams, look no further than to Sunday’s results. Martin Biron lost 3 - 0 to Martin Brodeur and the Devils and Jose Theodore got pulled after letting in 4 first period goals against the Florida Panthers. To drive the knife in a little further, those loses were to Eastern Conference rivals who currently are holding playoff spots.

Not a good sign.

Although their numbers haven’t been too bad, Philadelphia and Washington are hoping that their goalies can hold up when the pressure is on.

Jose Theodore: 2.90 .899
Marty Biron: 2.86 .910
Marty Brodeur: 1.81 .928
Tim Thomas: 2.06 .933

The Eastern Conference is down to 10 teams and has been for a while (sorry folks, Ottawa isn’t making it). Of the six other teams not mentioned under the ‘Powerhouse’ list above, their challenge isn’t just finishing in the top eight, but they’ll be hoping to get into that 5 or 6 spot to see if they can put Theodore or Biron to the test.

We’ll see how confident the Washington and Philidelphia brass are in stickign with their goaltenders come trading deadline.

Given the lack of supply out there, they may have no choice.

Ryan MacIntyre
thejackass@hockeyjackass.com
March 2/09