Nighthawks clinch Victory Cup

[scoop 3,426]

With six games left to go, the Malmo Nighthawks have clinched the the Victory Cup. It is the third for the franchise, the first since Season 79, which was the season that they most recently won the Continental Cup. This year's team also has a chance to finish the season with the best record in franchise history. Three more points would tie the 106 that they put up in both S79 and S81. Given how they have been playing as of late, it seems like a foregone conclusion that they can reach that mark.

While Malmo of course stands alone at the top by a good margin, the second through fifth place teams are very close. There is no award for second place, but it will still be interesting to watch how the rest of the season unfolds for these teams. They will be fighting for playoff seeding, and particularly for Los Angeles and Calgary, this will be important. D.C., the most likely third seed, has been a tougher opponent than Toronto and New York. Helsinki and Moscow are almost certainly going to be playing each other in the second round of the playoffs, so the rest of the season will just determine which of them has home advantage.

What sets Malmo apart from the other top teams this season has been their ability to consistently beat the weaker teams. The Nighthawks have a 9-7-2 record against the rest of the top five teams. This is worse than both Calgary (9-5-2) and Moscow (10-7-0). Against the rest of the league, however, Malmo is 40-5-3. The next best record against those teams is Los Angeles, at 35-10-4.

[Victor 10,937]

 

[UghSike 221]

1 hour ago, Victor said:

 

Glad I'm not the only one who was seeing double!