#also sorry Tumblr appears to be blowing up images 8 I

[that1nkyone]

(In response to this post)

y’all are so supportive aaaaa ;_;

Thank you guys so much. I’ll try to put some things in place to help me manage this.

Please take care of yourselves, too. : )

[ask-de-writer]

Dr. Mordenheim’s Travels, Book 1: De Writer’s Equestria, Ch. 8

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Dr. Mordenheim’s Travels, Book 1: De Writer’s Equestria, Ch. 8

by

@mordenheim

2319 words

© 2020 by @mordenheim

used by permission of the author

All rights reserved.  This document may not be copied or distributed on or to any medium or placed in any mass storage system except by the express written consent of the author.

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Blog holding members of Tumblr.com may freely reblog this story provided that the title, author and copyright information remain intact, unaltered, and are displayed at the head of the story.

Fan art, stories, music, cosplay and other fan activity is actively encouraged.

===================================================

NEW TO THIS STORY? READ FROM PART 1 which is HERE

===================================================

Dr. Mordenheim’s Travels, Book 1:   De Writer’s Equestria, Ch. 8

Dr. Victor Mordenheim has traveled to many different realities in his many centuries of existence.  This series, which I shall add to from time to time, will explore some of them, beginning with the world of  @ask-de-writer. Note: This tale takes place before the Hearthswarming story.  It is actually the night after the Nightmare Night Celebration. =============================================================

The huge zebra sat at the table, waiting for the entrance of the two sisters.   Luna had essentially twisted his foreleg until he finally agreed to meet with her sister, Celestia.   Given that in his own world, Celestia was responsible for his curse and much of the suffering he experienced in his long, long life it had taken a LOT of twisting.

He clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and wished silently that he had brought his pipe.   He imagined that it was likely bad manners to smoke inside of the royal palace, but his nerves were shot.   He gazed around the room, which was smoothly tiled and decorated mostly in white and gold with deep midnight blue and black highlights.   The black of a few of the tiles was so deep that he felt he might fall into one if he stared at it for too long.

He glanced back over his shoulders to the four guards posted by the huge double doors.   Three of them stood at attention, their heads scanned the room as proper, well trained guards would.   The fourth had his eyes locked on the “good” doctor, sneering with disdain at what he obviously considered a “lesser” creature.   Victor turned away and rolled his eyes, sighing softly.   There really was no escaping ignorance.

After a few moments there came a knock at the door.   A new guard leaned in and whispered something to one of the others before the two nodded to one another and she backed out and closed the door.

“Night court is running late, I am afraid.   Princess Luna will be unable to attend tea with her sister this evening.   However, Princess Celestia shall be appearing in a few moments.

The zebra swallowed hard and felt his heart sink into his gut.   This was not at all what he had agreed to. Meeting the two of them together was bad enough, at least he would have Princess Luna to lean on a bit and guide him through the ordeal, but this?   This was almost too much to bear.

Victor stared wordlessly into the cup of milky tea swirling before him.   His hooves tapped nervously on the tabletop as he waited.   He turned his head to the left, casting furtive glances towards the door.   The door where a mare who was the spitting image of the one who ruined his life would soon enter.   He cast his eyes over to the side of the room and briefly considered hurling himself through the glass to escape.   It might be poor form, but he wouldn’t have to face his fear alone.

He knew in his head that she was not the same mare who had been responsible for his centuries of torment, but he was not so sure of how his heart would react to seeing her face to face.   He took a deep, cleansing breath through his nose and slowly exhaled through his mouth as he tried to get his nerves under control.

The door opened and he felt his heart freeze like ice.   He turned to see the Princess of the Sun enter the room, alone.   She was slightly taller than he, her rainbow mane seeming to blow in an eternal solar wind even in the still air of the room.   He felt a sudden urge to flee settle into him until he met her gaze.

Her eyes met his and studied him with curiosity.  Where the Celestia he knew would only look upon him with coldness and disdain, there was none of that here.   Her eyes held genuine concern. Her violet gaze seemed warm and inviting, like being bathed in the gentle light of the sun after a cold storm.   He started to speak, then stopped.   Unused to the process he bowed low as he did for her sister, if a bit stiffly.

The princess smiled brightly, “My sister told me that you were quite nervous about our meeting, yet it seems something has changed that already.   What was it?”

He cast his gaze downwards, ashamed of how frightened he had been.  “One look into your eyes and I could see that you were not the tyrant ruler of my old home, despite many physical similarities.   Your eyes speak of inviting kindness, while hers spoke of solitude and hatred.”

Celestia, let out a musical laugh.  She moved about a few of the massive array of cakes set before her to make eye contact easier.   No doubt many of these were part of her sister’s bribe.  “I am glad to see you are so observant.   The ability to see more than one’s appearance is a very important trait to have.”

The zebra finally took a small sip of his tea. He enjoyed the milky richness and the slight sweetness on his tongue.   He thought about her words and tilted his head a bit. “And what do you see beneath my appearance?”

The tall mare looked thoughtful for a moment.   Her first few words were muffled, spoken as they were around a mouthful of cake.  “Power…   Great power and intelligence, and a kindness and wish to help others.”   Her wistful look turned to one of sorrow, “Beneath that, however, is pain..   More pain than anyone should have to endure.   There’s a darkness down there, and that makes you a dangerous stallion.”

Victor sat his cup down with a shaking hoof.   The porcelain made a soft clattering noise against the saucer.   How much did she know, he wondered.   Steeling himself, he forced his eyes to meet hers and was stunned to see not judgment, but compassion in her gaze.  “I have done many things I am not proud of over the centuries.   Things I wish I could go back and change, but I can’t.  All of this power and all of the time in the universe…” “Yet you can’t change the past…” Celestia finished for him.

He nodded mutely and stared down into his tea for a moment.

The princess reached across the table and lightly touched his shoulder with a hoof.   The zebra was so tense it was like touching a moss-covered stone.  “I don’t know what you’ve done in the past, but that was another place, another world entirely.   Here, I want you to know that you can start over.   A clean slate, as it were.”

She stared into the depths of her own tea for a moment.  “I know what happened at the celebration last night.”

Victor had gripped the edge of the table with his hooves so tightly that the wood sounded like it was beginning to splinter.   He glanced at the guards, his voice a hoarse whisper.  “They were inciting violence around children, I couldn’t just…”

She smiled softly, “I know…   I know everything that happened, Victor.   Luna knew what had happened and we do not keep secrets from one another.”

The zebra was confused by the smile, but relaxed a little.   She hadn’t shouted for the guards so all may still be well.

“My apologies.   A transgression like that where I come from could result in several years in the dungeon, if not becoming a permanent addition to the royal statue garden.” He rubbed a bit at his eye patch and chuckled nervously, but could see genuine concern in Celestia’s eyes.

“I’m sorry to hear that.   To think that a punishment for a crime would be levied without looking into all circumstances involved, or worse that the circumstances did not matter is horrible.   To think that it comes from a version of myself, even more so.”   The tall alicorn helped herself to another piece of cake from the rapidly dwindling pile.   As she took a bite, she mulled over a few thoughts.

“It doesn’t sound like you are in any particular hurry to go back there,” she said softly, taking a sip of tea.

“Not at all.   There is nothing left for me there anymore.   Everything was taken from me.”   He picked up the mug of tea in his hooves and sipped at it sparingly.   It had gone cold while they were waiting, but that was fine as far as he was concerned.

Victor was once more bathed in that comforting warmth as Celestia smiled at him.  “You may, of course, stay here for as long as you wish.   You are after all a citizen of Equestria, if not this particular version of it.”   She giggled a bit, “Luna has also told me that you were so anxious to open your clinic that you forgot to get the proper licenses even after she told you directly.”

Victor blushed, a deep crimson showing through his pale fur.  “Y..yes, well…”   He stammered for a moment before nodding, “Very true.   If Princess Luna had not been visiting that day I could have ended up in a rather large spot of trouble.”

“Ah!   Before I forget!   Luna was extremely impressed with the demonstration of your prostheses.   She even said that it has pushed her to try improving on her own design. Perhaps the two of you should compare notes with one another and come up with a single design using your combined knowledge?”

Victor hummed and rubbed his chin, “I think that is an ingenious idea!   If you think she would be willing, of course…”

Celestia chuckled to herself, “I think she would be delighted.   After all, who knows what breakthroughs the two of you may devise?”

Victor slowly took another long, cleansing breath and allowed himself to relax at last.  “Lord and Lady, I had been so nervous about this day.   Thankfully, I see that it was for no good reason.”

The tall alicorn tilted her head at that statement, “Lord and Lady?   I must admit that’s an expletive I have not heard before.”

“Ah..”   Victor blushed a bit and thought he had gotten a bit too comfortable.  “It is in reference to the parents of Princess Luna and Celestia from my own dimension. Lord Kraken and Lady Faust.”

The princess nodded.   She took a very large bite of cake and chewed thoughtfully as she mulled it over, “Yes, I suppose that would make sense.   Though it is interesting to hear that a version of myself and my sister came from an entirely different set of circumstances.”

The zebra lifted a fork in his hoof and took a small piece of the sugary sweet cake onto it, “Well, the circumstances, unfortunately, created a very different version of you both.”

Celestia took one look and could easily read the hurt in the doctor’s voice.   She cleared her throat a bit and smiled once more at him, “Perhaps that is something we can discuss another time.   This being our first meeting perhaps we should stick to more pleasant conversation.”

He placed the sugary treat into his mouth and let it melt upon his tongue.   There was so much sweetness to it it made his teeth tingle, but it was still very flavorful.   It wasn’t sweet just for sweetness sake, but crafted with love and care by someone who knew precisely what they were doing.  “Mmm.. sorry..”   He took a sip of his tea to clear some of the stickiness from his maw, “Did you have something particular in mind?”

“Well, the running of the leaves is in a few weeks.   We’ve changed the route a bit so it runs past your clinic and will clear some of the mess out in that area.   I was wondering if you were going to participate in the running itself?”

His ears perked up at the sound of that.   How long had it been since he’d gone for a run and just really let himself loose?   He could actually feel his true cutie mark trying to push its way pas the wolf-head curse mark on his flank for a moment.  “I..   would like that very much, but I don’t know if I should…”

The princess blinked in surprise, sitting upright, “I don’t understand.   The running is open to any creature who wishes to join in.   What could be the problem?”

Victor chuckled a little, “Simply put, my skill as a scientist is purely due to study, hard work, and dedication.   It has nothing to do with my talent.”   He smiles, actually puffing up with pride a little, “While I may be a bit rusty, my true talent is running.   I just don’t know if it would be fair to the others if I were to participate.”

She laughed a little, a high, cheerful piccolo like sound.  “Oh, now I wish to see you run even more.   If it is something you are skilled at and enjoy enough to brag about it in front of me, you must be impressive indeed!”

He blinked as he realized that he had just stepped in a mess with this turn of conversation.   He sighed softly and shook his head, “Alright then, I will participate, but I just hope the other ponies won’t be upset if I show them up too badly.”   He finished his small slice of cake and drained the last of his tea before smiling at her.   However, the hour is late, and I still have a bit of paperwork to do before bed.” “Of course, of course.   I should be getting to bed myself.   It is a shame that Luna could not join us, but I did exercise enough restraint to save her a slice of cake.” Victor turned and bowed to the Princess, his head low to the carpet, “By your leave, your highness.”

She smiled and nodded, “Of course.   I look forward to seeing you again soon, Doctor Mordenheim.  I also look forward to what breakthroughs you and my sister may come up with.”

The zebra stood and turned to trot out of the room. He took great delight in the look of impotent rage on the face of one particular guard as he passed by.

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[superman86to99]

Superman: The Man of Steel #23 (July 1993)

REIGN OF THE SUPERMEN! In this issue: Steel vs. Superboy! I mean, "Superman” vs. “Superman”. The Man of Steel is battling some hoodlums armed with hi-tech killer weapons when the Metropolis Kid decides to butt in and "save him" in front of the cameras that follow him 24/7. (Side note: Was Superboy the first '90s reality TV star?) The Kid draws all the firepower to himself... accidentally causing the bad guys to shoot down a Daily Planet helicopter containing Lois Lane. The chopper blows up, signaling the death of a classic and beloved DC Comics character: Frank the helicopter pilot. RIP.

Lois, meanwhile, manages to jump out of the exploding chopper in time (probably out of pure muscle memory) and is rescued by Steel in a rather familiar-looking scene.

Lois tries to turn the tragic situation into an exclusive interview with Steel, but Steel has something more important to do: chewing Superboy's butt for scaring off those criminals he was trying to interrogate (and, you know, causing a man's death). The Kid is like "I'm da real Superman, yo!" and bails... but as he flies away, he actually starts questioning his half-assed approach to superheroics. I'm sure Frank's wife and 12 children would find great comfort in that.

Meanwhile, Steel is approached by Lex Luthor Jr., who wants to offer him a job as one of his armored security guards (because having one S-shielded superhero in his pocket isn't enough for him). To butter Steel up, Lex offers him the location of the White Rabbit -- aka, the lady distributing all those highly advanced weapons to street gangs. Steel thanks Lex for the tip and immediately ditches him, making it clear that his services aren’t for sale.

Steel drops by the White Rabbit’s penthouse, and she turns out to be an old flame from his time as a weapons designer for the military. Things almost get steamy for a second in there, until Steel remembers that this lady has made him indirectly responsible for countless deaths (all those weapons are his design). Once she takes the hint that Steel won’t work for her (either), White Rabbit just shoots him point blank with one of those big-ass guns, launching him off the building and into a convenient tanker parked outside.

Superboy (who was following Steel to apologize for being a dick) flies in just in time to pull Steel’s body from the resulting tanker explosion:

By the time Superboy and Steel return to White Rabbit’s penthouse, the place is already empty. The two Supermen then bond over that whole “we’ve both caused innocent people to die today” thing and part amicably. Awww!

Plotline-Watch:

Ponytailed scumbag Jeb Friedman, having given Lois Lane WEEKS to recover from her fiance’s supposed death, urges her to “forget Clark” and go to Cairo with him. Don Sparrow says: “I hesitate to even mention that the hated Jeb Friedman appears here, and even Jimmy doesn’t want Lois rebounding with him. Serious question, though: are we supposed to hate Jeb? Or is it just happenstance?” If we weren’t supposed to hate Jeb, would they have given him a ponytail, Don?

After meeting Steel, Lois reflects on the fact that the other Supermen may look like Clark, but Steel is the only one who acts like him. Obviously she doesn’t think Clark’s already been reincarnated as an adult black man, but she does seriously wonder if ghostly possession is a real thing.

I love how efficiently Steel’s backstory is presented in this issue. As he and White Rabbit are about to lock lips, we see a handful of black-and-white panels showing the two working together for the military, hooking up, finding out his weapons were being used against innocents in Qurac, and then a flashback-within-the-flashback of Steel’s grandparents having just become victims of gang violence. It’s only half a page but it tells you everything you need to know about this dude and his motivation.

Superboy burns his hands while rescuing Steel, even though a clone of Superman should be equally invulnerable. Hmm. Hmmmm. Hmmmmmm.

The issue ends with Supergirl telling Lex she’s going off to look for Superboy, which leads to the next issue of Adventures.

And this leads to the end of my section! For more commentary, Easter eggs, and gratuitous images of White Rabbit, check out Don Sparrow’s section after the jump:

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like none of the other four Superman titles seems as swayed by the importance of the storyline as SMOS.  What do I mean? I mean that when it’s a big storyline, like Panic in the Sky, or Doomsday, the art on the title really seems to rise to the occasion, and there’s some standout stuff being produced.  But in the meantime, when a story doesn’t feel as important, the quality seems to dip a little. To me, this is one of those issues.  We begin with the cover, and it’s not one of Bogdanove’s best.  Sure, his artwork could be called cartoony at the best of times, but this one really took on a loose, loony tunes sketchiness, particularly in Superboy’s “ain’t I a stinker?” expression and giant wall of teeth. He looks less like a 16 year old than he resembles Rex Leech, a character we’ll come to know better in time.

Inside, the story gets off to a slow start, as we’re abruptly thrown into a video of wannabe gangsters, moving in on where they think they’ll find John Henry Irons.  The double page splash revealing his location is an exciting one, and Dennis Janke does some interesting things with his hatching to indicate the shine of the metal, leaving certain areas unhatched to show a glimmer. 

Bog’s depictions of The White Rabbit continue to push the envelope for how much skin a comic code approved book can show, both on page 7, and then later in the book. [Max: This next sequence of panels burned itself into my young mind. Because of the cool panel layout, I mean.]

[December 2018 edit: White Rabbit’s body has been covered with Mike Carlin’s face so that Tumblr doesn’t delete this post. Sorry.]

Page 8 brings us a long sought after in-comics cameo.  If you’ll recall, back on one of my first reviews on this site, I interviewed the great Tom Grummett and asked him if there were any Easter Eggs that we should look out for while we were reading.  He answered that "My personal favorite moment was when Jon Bogdanove drew me in a scene with Jimmy Olsen in one issue of Man of Steel. I’m the one with the moose on his shirt. Happy hunting.”  Well, we need hunt no more, as a certain fellow pops up, arguing with Jimmy Olsen, and what’s that on his shirt?  A moose?! Found you! [Max: Are we the first on the internet to point out this cameo? I don’t have time to look it up, so let’s go with “Yes”.]

I also love the little gag in the lettering, where the first part of “Saskatchewan” (Tom’s home province) is shown as “Saskatch” and then below that Bog has written “W-1”, phonetically completing the phrase.   It’s also a very Neal Adams-y couple of panels when Jimmy and Tom start to get heated debating who the real Superman is.  [Max: I wonder if the Neal Adams-esque panels above are homaging a specific Adams comic, or just his “intense argument” poses in general...]  Then a page later, there’s an unmistakable rendering of another Super-Teamster, none other than group editor Mike Carlin, scanning the police radio for scoops.

As the story progresses, there’s a great shot of the Metropolis Kid (who they refer to as Superboy on this page, without a rebuttal from the Kid) showboating and holding one hand behind his back.  But, on the page that follows, a pretty heavy end for Daily Planet chopper pilot “Frank”, made all the more sickening by the lack of concern from the Kid leading up to this point. 

Some great visual callback on page 12, as the mob scene when the Man of Steel rescues Lois Lane recalls the meet-cute at the shuttle disaster wayyyy back in MOS #1.

The scene were John Henry confronts the Kid about his carelessness is well-done, even if it gives way to another mention of the preposterous ‘spirit-walk-in’ idea, which even these characters seem to find tenuous.  

The flashback with White Rabbit does a good job of filling in the gaps of John Henry’s history (interesting how similar Irons’ motivation is to that of Tony Stark’s, at least in the movies) but it’s an odd scene—not just because of the aforementioned vamping from White Rabbit, but also Irons’ inaction in the scene—he went there to capture her, but mostly just stands around and then lets her stroll back over to the bed, where a weapon is clearly visible from where he’s standing. [Max: Can’t imagine what else he could be looking at.]

As The Metropolis Kid rescues The Man of Steel, we get more looney tunes-style comedy, when the Kid comedically blows on his burning hands, trying to cool them. They seem to be working hard to establish how different his powers are from Kal-El’s, though they eventually go back on almost all of this stuff.

Moving on, we get a really nice look at Lois at a rainy window, once again musing on how the Man of Steel, while physically the most removed from Kal-El, seems to embody his “soul” more than the rest.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

Is the cameraman gangster supposed to be a riff on Spike Lee? The glasses seem pretty similar to ones Spike wore at the time.

How is it that we never noticed such a giant, futuristic tower on the Metropolis skyline before?

Jimmy Olsen wearing a Spin Doctors t-shirt is a little too meta for my head, since one of their biggest hits was “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues”.  What does the DC Universe Jimmy think when he hears a song about himself, lusting after Lois Lane?  They were also one of my favourite bands when this issue came out, so my mind was doubly blown.

What is it with Lex hanging onto VHS tapes?  Thank God he never got his hands on that one of Big Barda! [Max: Dammit, I’d JUST managed to erase that from my mind, Don.]

[singartworks]

Hey! D'you ever think you'll draw Mirio (since he's similar to Toshi and all)? I'm so compelled to see him dressed as a cowboy since he reminds me of fallout so much, though there were a bunch of other comparisons people made when he was introduced! What do you think about him?

Hi “Mirio-nice-anon-fan” (that’s how I’ll always call you in my head…)

Before I answer your question, I’ve to say it… I’m so so happy to receive this kind of ask about BnHA as much of any other fandom!! I was so pumped that I draw this in a blow for ya! So sorry for the delay, but I didn’t received any notification from tumblr about the ask! I’m trying to solve this issue!

Meanwhile I hope that the art reflects your imaginations of him as FallOut cowboy! And honestly speaking… I can see Mirio-kun fitting the role quiet well…

Speaking of Mirio-kun.

I’ve to admit that the introduction of the big 3 of the UA was a huge stuff. Before that, Horikoshi-sensei never focused much on 2nd and 3rd year students. We knew there were some but we had no idea what they did ‘till they appeared. And as almost all the characters of BnHA, the backgrounds, abilities & skills, way to be and appearence he thoughts of them amazed me.

Indeed Mirio-kun has some resemblances with Toshinori or else it would have be pointless point him as sir. Nighteye’s All Might ideal successor. I see them more, however, in Midoriya-shonen if we talk about “way to be and think”. Indeed Mirio is a shiny and sunny boy, someone that can bring light and hope to humanity. But I’ve the feeling that he couldn’t be a good fit for One-for-All as Midoriya who is more, allow me the term, emphatic with his surroundings. 

I’m not asserting that Mirio isn’t an emphatic character; but Midoriya as a powerless boy can come to understand better the pain and fear felt from undefended people. Thou, Mirio-kun ability…. really freaks me out. The idea of not feeling anything while falling down is one of the biggest nightmare I have since my childhood. Poor boy… He absolutely has guts!

Even if my praise words were almost all for Midoriya-shonen, I really like Mirio a lot since he is such a positive figure! I think he is a character needed at this point of the story and that he will evolve and will help Midoriya-shonen to grow up a lot. 

Frankly speaking, if I had to pick a favorite one among the 3 big ones of the UA, it would be Sun Eater // Tamaki Amajiki which, among the three, surprised me the most. 

But this is another story and talk! :)

Ask me again if you want another opinion or just for a “fan talk”! I’d love to reply you also with a quick doodle of mines! :) 

Edit: btw yeah i think that once i finish the 8 images serie of BnHA, i could draw the big 3! :)

[yahoo-puck-daddy-blog]

What We Learned: Three teams vying for league's last playoff spot

TORONTO, ON – MARCH 18: Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates a goal against the Chicago Blackhawks during an NHL game at the Air Canada Centre on March 18, 2017 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blackhawks defeated the Maple Leafs 2-1 in overtime. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

Most of the playoff teams in the league seem pretty much set. In a lot of cases it’s just a matter of seeding over these last 10 to 12 games.

In the West, the gap between the No. 8 team (currently Nashville) and No. 9 (currently LA) is six points. With this little road left, that seems insurmountable.

And in the East, seven of the eight playoff spots are set as well. The Rangers occupy the first Wild Card spot and enjoy a 14-point gap between themselves and the Toronto Maple Leafs, who hold the last spot. And that final spot is now the sight of some significant drama.

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With an OT loss to a Chicago team that once again can’t lose, the Leafs pulled into that No. 8 seed on Saturday night, up one point on the New York Islanders and two on the Tampa Bay Lightning with a game in hand. But the same night, Islanders got a point out of Columbus, and Tampa lost to Washington, as teams tend to do.

This is likely to be one of the only things in the league worth watching down the final stretch of the season.

Right now the Leafs have the best chance to win that final spot just because they’re in the lead right now and have an extra game to play, but they also play a slightly tougher schedule than the other two; their remaining opponents are collectively above .500; Tampa’s and New York’s are both below that number.

In terms of points percentage, the team playing the best of these three is Tampa, with .650 points percentage, versus .550 for Toronto and .500 for New York. There’s not a lot separating them, obviously, but when you combine that with the strength of schedule above them, you can perhaps see where Tampa might be able to make up its two-point deficit.

Of course, record doesn’t always take into account quality of play, and to that end you have to say Tampa and Toronto are in more or less a dead heat, while the Islanders are dropping off a bit of late. I know we’re supposed to be in awe of the job Doug Weight has done since taking over — winning 36 of an available 58 points (.621) — but in terms of actual quality of play I have to say he’s never really done much to push this team above the level seen under Jack Capuano.

Yahoo

Now, that’s not necessarily on him, because that roster just isn’t great, and it’s nice to get results for sure, regardless of how you do it. But right now even with the weaker strength of schedule and relatively easy travel, the overall form of how they’ve played for the last 10 games it’s pretty easy to be discouraged about their chances. That’s especially true because the Islanders aren’t getting saves from their goaltenders (.883 in all situations in the past 10 games) while the Leafs (.923) and Bolts (.924) definitely are.

You’d hate to immediately reduce this to a two-horse race out of hand, especially given that they do indeed have an extra point on Tampa, but there’s not a lot of encouraging information about where the Islanders are headed here. Again, this boils down to an issue of roster construction, and the fact that Weight seems to have gotten them anywhere close to the playoffs after what Jack Capuano did in the first 42 games is a nice little story. But he didn’t exactly sit down to a good hand here, and sometimes that’s how it goes.

With both Toronto and Tampa looking like the most likely final opponents for that last playoff spot, and the Leafs enjoying that two-point advantage, it’s kind of a amazing these divisional opponents seem to have so little else separating them in the past two weeks or so.

Toronto probably remains the better team for the balance of the season but that’s discounting the fact that they’ve only recently recovered from a swoon they suffered from December to early February or so, but Tampa was playing even better for a recent stretch.

But here’s the amazing thing: Over the past 15 games they’ve both played, they’re effectively the same team in most respects.

Yahoo

Tampa has a few meager advantages here but its team shooting percentage is low enough to be worrying right now. It’s not for lack of a surfeit of scoring chances — they’re getting more than their opponents by a considerable — but they’re doing the Julien-style thing where they don’t actually generate a lot, but they just give up far fewer (third-fewest per 60 in the league since Feb. 15, in fact). They also put themselves at a significant disadvantage when it comes to committing too many penalties. Tampa’s currently fourth-best at limiting expected goals, which tells you how well they’re keeping opponents away from their net.

As for the Leafs, well, they remain a chance-generation factory (more than 11 per 60, with only three teams league-wide ahead of them). But no surprise here, they can’t exactly lock down their own zone. It’s a good thing their goaltending situation sorted itself out and is delivering above-average results, because the team in front of Freddie Andersen is giving up almost as many scoring chances per 60 minutes these days as Buffalo.

There’s plenty of reason to think both these teams can close it out and take that last playoff spot. The Leafs have the league’s best coach, high-end talent up front, and good goaltending. Tampa has a bit of a disadvantage behind the bench but not much of one, and elite talent at literally every position.

One gets the feeling this will be a nail-biter, especially because neither team is currently playing as well as it probably could be. It would be awesome for the league if it literally came down to April 9, when Tampa hosts Buffalo to close out the season at 5 p.m. and the Leafs host Columbus an hour later.

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The real dream, of course, is that this all boils down to both teams’ 80th game of the season, because it’s head-to-head. On April 6, Tampa will visit Toronto as part of a three-game road trip. But regardless, there’s going to be plenty to root for down the stretch, especially for whichever team wins the No. 1 seed in the East.

Who would you rather play in the playoffs: Toronto or Tampa? Not as easy a question to answer as you’d have thought at the beginning of the season, is it?

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: This is getting a little closer than I would have thought, too. Four points to make up on the Sharks with one extra game played seems like a tall feat, though.

Arizona Coyotes: I love when eliminated teams are just content to “play spoiler.” They’re anti-Kings tanking.

Boston Bruins: The Bruins are probably going to add Charlie McAvoy for the playoffs after next weekend (unless BU wins two games, which is within the realm of possibility). Maybe Anders Bjork, too. I don’t see Notre Dame having a real chance to advance to the Frozen Four.

Buffalo Sabres: Starting to hear more and more noise about Bylsma being canned. I don’t think this season is fault. Look at that defense. It’s horrible.

Calgary Flames: Curtis Lazar still hasn’t played a game for the club since they traded for him at the deadline. Tough to change your lineup when you’ve won 10 of 11, though.

Carolina Hurricanes: Guys this isn’t how you’re supposed to tank!

Chicago: Can you imagine wanting to hear Patrick Kane’s opinion on the USA Hockey women’s team’s pay issue? Why not go to the zoo and ask a jackal? You’ll probably get a more substantive answer.

Colorado Avalanche: Love that Colorado now has to reassure itself that, yeah, their prospects don’t want to all Vesey their way out of Denver at the first opportunity.

Columbus Blue Jackets: If there’s one team you want to blow a lead against, it’s for sure the Islanders. You know you’re gonna get a goal back at some point.

Dallas Stars: It’s almost like this was a foreseeable problem.

Detroit Red Wings: Haha imagine getting pumped because a team steamrolled the Avs? Man, what a season in Detroit.

Edmonton Oilers: My new theory is that Cam Talbot is going to be bad next year because he’s going to have played 197 games this season.

Florida Panthers: I think you can safely say the Panthers’ season is over, sorry.

Los Angeles Kings: Yes. Thanks for asking.

Minnesota Wild: You’ll never guess Devan Dubnyk’s save percentage starting with his 50th appearance of the year on March 5: it’s .898. No wonder they’re losing.

Montreal Canadiens: Alex Radulov is still having very good season. I’m very happy about that. Sorry to The Haters out there.

Nashville Predators: Win on the road against the caps, then two nights later lose on the road against the Hurricanes. Weird season, man.

New Jersey Devils: The Devils snapped a 10-game losing streak by annihilating the Flyers. Hilarious.

New York Islanders: When they end up missing the playoffs, we’ll all look back and say losing this game is probably what tanked the Islanders’ season.

New York Rangers: The Rangers are bad at home and good on the road. It’s because they try harder on the road. I bet that’s why.

Ottawa Senators: Looks like the Sens probably won’t sign Colin White to help them for the stretch run here. They’re letting Burrows and Stalberg squeeze him out of a spring roster spot.

Philadelphia Flyers: Important to stay hydrated, folks.

Pittsburgh Penguins: I hate to see this!

San Jose Sharks: Jannik Hansen being out any longer period of time than a few games would probably not be ideal.

St. Louis Blues: Turns out, folks, that rich people have nice houses.

Tampa Bay Lightning: You really gotta hope that Stamkos is able to stay healthy at some point. What a shame we’re robbed of his talent so often.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Auston Matthews! Big scoring slump! Seven games without a point! Still has 32 goals and 56 points despite playing a whole lot of time with Zach Hyman for some reason.

Vancouver Canucks: I will never stop doing this.

Vegas Golden Knights: I am getting one of these plates and it will say “BLKKNTS.”

Washington Capitals: Man imagine if Barry Trotz called EVERY game a “must-win?” They’d never lose folks.

Winnipeg Jets: An alternative headline: Shawn Matthias out two weeks.

Play of the Weekend

Might want to put someone on that McDavid guy. Baertschi gets caught puck-watching and gives him eight feet down the wing. Recipe for disaster.

Gold Star Award

My nice sons have done it again.

Minus of the Weekend

TAMPA, FL – MARCH 18: T.J. Oshie #77 of the Washington Capitals celebrates a goal against goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy #88 of the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period at Amalie Arena on March 18, 2017 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mark LoMoglio/NHLI via Getty Images)

Defense optional in this weekend’s Washington/Tampa game: Seven goals allowed on just 63 shots. Uncharacteristic for both teams, to be honest.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Year

User “Kobe Armstrong” is now in the part of the season where we’re getting Vegas-related trade proposals. Thank u Kobe Armstrong.

To Las Vegas:  Tomas Plekanec, 2nd 2017, guarantee that Vegas selects Emelin in the expansion draft

To Montreal:  6th/7th round pick

Signoff

I don’t recall saying good luck.

Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.

(All stats via Corsica unless otherwise noted.)

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