We're having a playoff math lesson for our Lightning preview and open thread

It's that time of year that when the mathematician in all of us comes to the forefront. It started in the comments yesterday, with L Dude's formula:

Well, the Habs' mission is clear. Just like the road trip, continue to play .750 hockey. With 15 games remaining, that's 22.5 points (let's call it 22). 92 points is more than enough I think.
10 of the remaining 15 games are against teams below the Habs in the standings. Win them. There's 20 points. Take 2 of the 5 remaining to OT. So a mere 10-3-2 record will assure us of a playoff spot.

And then LeDouze linked to the geekiest, greatest page of statistics I've ever seen on the internet. I have no idea what any of those numbers or graphs mean, but it seems to give the Habs a 58.5% chance of making the playoffs. I could live with those odds.

One of the most watched playoff trackers is Mirtle's The Playoff Push. Currently, he is predicting that a mere 87 points will be enough to make it to the Playoffs in the East. That leaves the Habs with only needing a 8-6-1 record in our last 15 games to make it. That seems almost easy.

With a need for us to always be abreast of the latest information about our playoff chances, you'll see we updated the sidebar with some of these links. You'll want to click on them every day, study the numbers and get your inner geek on. They say sports are all about the numbers, and Miss Lloyd up there will get pretty annoyed if we don't take our math seriously. So at the risk of irritating Miss Lloyd and succumbing to her discipline, my reaction to all these numbers is the following:

It's a load of crap.

Want the Habs to make the playoffs? The equation is simple. Just win some fucking games. Beat the teams you're supposed to beat. Avoid giving up cheap points to the teams around us in the clusterfuck. Don't go on any real losing streaks. Play well. Play hard. Dig into the corners, stop backing down on D, ride a hot goalie, play for 60 minutes and you'll get in. As the old cliche goes, you gotta take 'em one game at a time, and the good Lord willing, things will work out. Let's start with tonight vs. the Bolts, previewed in bullet point form so I can get to my Miss Lloyd discipline already:

• 7:30 PM start at the Bell, though that might be a bit delayed with some Olympians in attendance;
• This is the fourth and thankfully final meeting with the Bolts this year, with the Bolts up 2-1;
• Habs coming off their 6 out of 8 points road trip, and the Bolts coming off breaking their 5-game losing streak with a win over the Thrash;
  
• Raw Charge is your source for all things Bolts;
• The Giant Mexican CHicken is carrying the offence now, with Gio scoring in each of the last 3 games. And Peks has goals in his last 2;
• Puck Daddy calls St Louis-Stamkos-Downie the best line in the NHL right now, and the stats back him up. Stamkos has a 16-game point streak, with 15G and 14A, Downie has a 10-game point streak, and Marty has 7 points in his last 3 games. Stamkos is behind only Sid and Ovie in goals. OK, then;
• Our Tits need to get going. Big is pointless since he's back, and Little has just one point in his last 6 games. Though I thought at times he was the best player on the ice Sunday;
• Bolts may have goaltending issues, with both Smith and Niittymaki not having great records over the last little while, though apparently Niittymaki was better in that Thrasher game;
• Twitter has The Urologist and Squid finally on the ice today, but that's a long way off from playing;
• Post-game, enjoy the full Danielle Lloyd teacher gallery (sort of NSFW, for hand boob).

Let's see your playoff equation in the comments