N.Y. Holding Onto Playoff Hopes

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New York -- With 16 games left in the regular season, the playoff race is close to being all but over for the New York Americans. While the team was fighting with Toronto just a short while ago, the Legion going 7-0-3 in their last 10 has created a gulf that's just too large to cross. New York is now 10 points down in the playoff race -- surprisingly, to the Wolves, who fell below the Legion during that stretch.

 

Can New York still make the playoffs? It'll be tough, even for a team that was expected to improve as the season went along. One thing going in their favor may be the schedule: Among those 16 games left, 2 are against the Wolves, and the Americans would pretty much need to win both. They play the expansion teams twice a piece, and they'd likely need to sweep those games as well. Finishing .500 among the other scheduled games would put the Americans at 11-5-0 among the remaining games, and they'd need Vancouver to finish with 12 points (or less) in their other 13 games remaining.

 

A pipe dream? Likely. But even having an outside chance is more than many expecting from this young team coming into the season. For defenseman Lance Flowers, it was always going to be a building year.

 

"I knew coming in that we were building something here," Flowers recently told the media. "There have been a few losses I feel like we should have taken, but that's OK. That's going to happen to young teams. What matters is we learn from these mistakes and keep growing, and when we're really ready to compete in a season or two, we apply everything we've learned to the best of our ability."