The Bladerunners cap a fantastic week with a trio of pts from Lecavalier and an assist from Boyle. Kipprusoff lets in three goals in 13minutes and it doesn't even faze them. 54pts. Best week in the pool, 10pts better than anyone else and a 20 point gain on the Highlanders for the week giving them a solid dozen point lead as we head into the final seven weeks. What makes the feat all the more impressive was that had they played FP Luongo in net and played Stastny at center instead of Drury, they would have gotten another 10pts. The Bladerunners are certainly making a statement and seem a strong bet to win back-to-back cups (joining the Severed Heads and the Highlanders as the only teams to ever do so) and win their third Predator Cup (something only the Great Whites had done before).
Their bid for the triple crown (the Predator & Challenge Cups and the Omnivore Award) is also looking good. The Bladerunners dispatched the Ramapithicines (eliminating them from playoff contention) and are now looking for a challenger in the first round. The Highlanders could not close the gap in their game with the Great Whites so the playoffs remain a possibity for the Fish as well as for the Wolves and Personal Vendetta. The Highlanders can book thier ticket with a win against those same Vendetta this week but that may prove tough.
The Bladerunners continue to hold a good lead in the Omnivore standings as well however the real story of the day may be the phenomenal transformation below them on the Omnivore board. The Scourge, yes you read that correctly, are now in second place behind the Bladerunners. P.Datsyuk and H.Zetterberg are on a tear and that is good news for the Scourge. Conversely, M.Havlat's return from injury and renewed scoring prowess is beginning to eat into the Shadowmen's baseline. The dynamic creates the unique situation where the top and bottom teams for most of the season are now battling for most-improved status. Should be interesting final weeks.
As of last night, here are the unofficial stats (please note that I have now adjusted the stats for Darrell's official week 18 stats and also corrected an error on the Bladerunners' totals - I had him playing D.Markov for both pts and +/-, he was played for pts):
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