The fact that we aren't playing the west-coast makes a gigantic, immesurable difference. I don't even believe that the western-conference is superior to the eastern but travelling and playing away games really affects the chemistry of the season. Wins, goals and good morale create a snowball effect and avoiding away games and brutal road-trips is great for that.
We should really enjoy this season and hope that Therrien can tune up the defensive scheme a bit in time for the playoffs - this is a sort of perfect storm scenario where we're gonna look much better than what we should conceivably look like. Eller, Gally, Gally and Diaz have surpassed expectations and have contributed to the bulk of our secondary scoring. While Cole, Gionta and Pleks have underproduced, we would've slowly suffocated our season, the kids filled in the gaps seamlessly. Also they won't be exhausted as much as they would be after an 82 game season. We've often seen players dry up after the break but this momentum and quick pace is really a treat for a winning team.
I just want to tighten up defensively a bit more and then we'll be favourites against all but a handful of teams.
