You know, our announcers talked all game about how Florida definitely wasn't going to make the playoffs, and that they would be playing loose because they knew they had no chance at making the playoffs. But that, along with a lot of the things that announcers say nowadays, isn't really true.
Right now, Florida is 10th in the East with 76 points; 7 points behind WC2 Columbus who has 83. Both teams have played 71 games.
As Sharks fans, we should know that a 7 point gap is hardly insurmountable, even over a very small sample.
On 2/28, the Sharks were 7 points behind Calgary with equal games played.
On 3/11, only 5 games later, the Sharks had closed the gap entirely and taken the lead. Florida has significantly more time to close the gap and they would be trying to do it against a weaker team than the team we closed the gap again. Now, they're also battling with one other team (Montreal), but it's worth noting that a 7 point gap isn't the end of the world with 11 games left and providing an example. Beyond that, there are other examples of teams that were pretty close to Florida's gap from the playoffs made it. On
this date in 2015, the Senators were 5 points behind Boston, although they did have one game in hand.
Their coach has called them a "
team fighting for their playoff lives" as recently as February 25th. One of their players said
"we have to go on a win streak if we want to get to the playoffs" as recently as February 21st. This clearly is a team that believes they can still make the playoffs.
Is it just me, or does it feel like our announcers are frequently pushing lazy, false narratives this season?