Darkhorse

I wanted to point out this read by THN.com.

Wanna be a rock star in the NHL? You have to beat the best. We’re nearly 50 games deep into this glorious 2008-09 season and while there are some universal truths (Boston and San Jose good, Tampa and the Isles bad), there’s still a lot of mud on the windshield as playoff jockeying begins.

In the interest of clearing the picture up a bit, let’s look at which teams have truly earned their points to date. Including last night’s results, the six current division leaders (Boston, New Jersey, Washington, San Jose, Detroit and Calgary) have been defeated 95 times in regulation, overtime or the shootout by 28 different teams. Tampa Bay and the Islanders are the only squads yet to defeat a division winner.

Subtracting wins against each other, the best teams have lost 75 times to 22 teams. If there’s a dark horse team hoping to hoist the Stanley Cup this summer, they’re obviously going to have to go through at least one of the division leaders along the way, so wins against those penthouse franchises are paramount; after all, the easiest way to prove you can do something is by doing it.

With that in mind, here are the teams who can put The Fear into a favorite in the post-season:

COLUMBUS (five wins)
Ken Hitchcock said it was crucial for his Jackets to beat the Sharks earlier this season. They did. The Jackets had a golden opportunity to come out of the all-star break with a resume-building win over Detroit. They took it. Coupled with rookie netminder Steve Mason’s two shutouts against Alex Ovechkin and the Caps and you have a team with fire in the belly and a fever for the post-season.

Interesting. Click here to read more.

Also an interesting read here on NHL vs. NBA in terms of ratings/attendance in the same city.

Only 3 NHL teams beat the NBA in TV ratings... Minnesota, Philadelphia and a bit of surprise in the Capitals.

I know its not the same but it would be interesting to see how the Jackets stack up to the basketball Buckeyes.

-LTL