Rating The Tank: Fly away edition

Mar 29, 2023 - 12:00 PM

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Usually when you talk about four-point games, you’re hoping they’re of the variety where your team winning means a big gain for them over a rival in service of earning a playoff spot. This year, the Montreal Canadiens are unfortunately in a situation where it’s the polar opposite, and we’re looking for losses that improve or solidify their draft lottery odds.

They had such an opportunity against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night, and did not disappoint any of the denizens of tank nation.

The good

Well, they lost, which as mentioned is effectively a four-point gain for the Flyers over the Habs in the standings. Philly remains in seventh-last, but now sit four points clear of the Tricolore, with two games in hand to boot. It would take some high quality tanking from the Flyers to get ahead of the Habs before the lottery.

Rafael Harvey-Pinard continued his scoring ways, we got our first glimpse at Sean Farrell in a Canadiens uniform, and Cayden Primeau had a decent outing in nets.

The bad

Overall, the game itself gave me about as much excitement as opening my annual property tax notice. I’m all for the team dropping games in service of solidifying their chances at a top-five pick, but I’d like a smidge more entertainment value than what I was given on Tuesday. This game felt like a bill that I had to pay, but hey, I’ll pay it seven more times if it means I get to see Connor Bedard in La Sainte-Flanelle.

Unfortunately, speaking of Bedard, it seems the Habs will have a tough time getting any better than the 8.5% chance they’ll have at his services should they finish fifth-last. They’re 10 points clear of the Anaheim Ducks as of this writing, so they really just need to focus on not allowing Arizona to knock them into sixth-last.

Lottery movement

Nothing to speak of. The Habs are still just a point behind Arizona, and no games in hand either way. It’ll come down to which of those teams can win the least from here out for fifth place.

Detroit did gain two points of their own, but unfortunately at the expense of the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team the Habs are hoping will keep the Florida Panthers pick in the lottery zone.

Tankathon

And hey, we can still dream...

Tank score

7/10

I’d have gone a little higher if the Penguins had done what they needed to do, but the Habs still get a 70% grade for kicking the Flyers a little further ahead in the standings. Up next is a tough one in terms of deciding who to root for, as the Habs will be playing the Panthers this Thursday night.

Bottom Six Minutes!

Yeah we’re still going, even when the game is as appealing to me as paying thousands of dollars to keep the city coming to pick up my garbage and such. Click the play button below to listen to the full episode, and don’t forget to subscribe on your platform of choice to avoid missing any episodes!