Patrick Williamstheahl.com writer
Treat the match as a weather forecast.
The further you are, the harder it is for the predictor. More variables, less certainty.
But with the AHL regular season now having a month, predictions are starting to get better.
Five North District teams will qualify for the playoffs, playing battles in the Belleville Senators, Cleveland Monsters and Syracuse austerity games.
Three teams compete for two Calder Cup playoffs. The sixth and sixth were separated by two points. There is also the seventh-place team, Comet Utica, still hovering in the background.
At the usual busy pace of the March schedule, these three teams are a slight break. They have all returned to action tonight since last Saturday, when the regular season ended, they seriously started the action.
Let’s break down these teams to get to where this weekend.
Syracuse (27-19-8-4) – 66 points, fourth place; 14 games left (7 homepages/7 times)
Crunch took the lead in fourth place in the finals, with Cleveland having 19 wins and 22 wins.
Their current four-game winning streak matches the longest game of the season, and they are 9-4-2-0 since the All-Star Game. They visited Lehigh Valley tonight and then had a family showdown with Rochester on Saturday.
Variables to consider: So far, the austerity game has beaten Utica 4-5-1-0, and the team still has four meetings to participate, including the end-of-season Family and Family Series from April 18 to 19. If Utica can make the game a game for four teams, the game will add more spice to the team’s competition.
Crunch finished 29th in the AHL’s scoring last weekend before scoring 17 goals in a back-to-back win over Springfield. Conor Sheary Five-pointers (three goals, two assists) are loose, and Logan Brown Had a hat-trick in Friday’s 9-4 win and scored again in Saturday’s 8-3 win.
Syracuse lost a league-high 12 games this season. This means there are a lot of key points left on the table. If the crunch attack wakes up, it may change the game significantly.
The remaining games: Belleville (1), Hershey (1), Laval (1), Lehigh Valley (2), Rochester (3), Toronto (2), Utica (4).
Cleveland (28-20-5-5) – 66 points, fifth place; 14 games left (6 main/8 games)
Sometimes, the schedule becomes more stressful at the most out of time.
For the Monsters, it was three consecutive weekends – six consecutive games – against the division leaders. They were swept at home by Hershey and then lost two games in Texas. Tonight, they opened two games in Laval, a four-day six-day road swing that brought them to Belleville on Sunday and Wednesday.
But AHL is about learning to cope with stress, and, monsters are getting a lot. Laval’s Place Bell and its loud and craziest fans have made a huge environment for a tough environment, and the Rockets have especially dominated the second best home record in the AHL this season (21-7-1-1).
Variables to consider: Jet Cleveland and Columbus have been back and forth, winning the game with New Jersey earlier this week. He showed he could handle advanced intensity and brought the monster into a game in a Calder Cup final last June.
The Blue Jacket is a three-pointer in the NHL playoff position, so the monster doesn’t have to rely on getting the roster. But the rookie defender Denton Mateychuk Available for assignment to the AHL; Mateychuk has been a regular at the Columbus Blue Line since December’s recall from Cleveland.
The remaining timeline for Cleveland (.622) was the toughest in the league, and they finished the game in four games.
The remaining games: Belleville (2), Grand Rapids (1), Laval (2), Lehigh Valley (1), Rochester (1), Texas (2), Toronto (2), Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (3).
Belleville (28-21-4-4) – 64 points in the sixth place; 15 games left (9 families/6 times)
Belleville forged a tough, strong reputation and has a good reputation here.
They fought for the playoffs on the last weekend of last season, beating Raval in an emotional victory at the CAA Arena. They then eliminated Toronto in the first round of Ontario and then gave Cleveland a good fight in the division semifinals. Head coach David BellThe team can handle late-season hockey.
The Senators’ final nine games were 8-0-1-0, and they will start a seven-game on Sunday.
Variables to consider: Face-to-face competition is the most effective way to control the rankings. Belleville was at that advantage in the final month, with the remaining 12 games against North District opponents, including two meetings with Cleveland and one with Syracuse.
SENS has settled into a good model after instability in networks caused by injury and recalls, with prospects LeeviMeriläinen There are also experienced Malcolm Subban. Meriläinen’s 12 NHL appearances this season, Meriläinen’s impression in Ottawa is 8-3-1, with a 1.99 GAA, a .925 percentage savings and 3 closing ceremonies.
Long-term home games will lead to a strait as the Senators played five consecutive road games from April 9 to April 18. They also ended their schedule with three straight games against Laval.
The remaining games: Cleveland (2), Laval (3), Lehigh Valley (1), Providence (1), Rochester (3), Springfield (1), Syracuse (1), Toronto (3).
During the fifty years in the American Hockey League, Theahl.com writer Patrick Williams currently covers the NHL.com and Flosports leagues and is a regular contributor to Siriusxm NHL New Network Radio. He won the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding league coverage in 2016.
