It's time for the Strikers to step up and play a complete game on both ends of the pitch. A victory puts the team at 27 points and a possibility of jumping from 6th place to 4th..... Of course San Antonio must beat Carolina and the Islanders must beat the Stars for this to happen
I'd take that a number of steps further Gator. First, you're 1000% right - we must beat Atlanta at home Friday night. This game is huge in terms of the rest of this season. Taking care of business at home against the last place team not only puts more distance between us and them, helping toward securing a playoff spot, but it also sets the tone for what looks like a very favorable schedule to wind down the regular season. We have nine games left, 5 home, 4 away. Those 4 away games consist of 3 against the two teams below us in the standings, and the one admittedly very difficult one against the Islanders, which unlucky enough will be their first game back in their home stadium. That is going to be one very tough trip. But the other three road games offer us a very solid chance at points. We do have some tough games left at home as well, but we've still only failed to Defend The Fort once this season. I think jumping over Carolina and the Stars for 4th place needs to be the goal, and I think it's a very attainable one. Hosting that 1st round match will be a big boost. We need to take full avantage of the upcoming home and home against the Silverbacks. We need 6 points from these two games to show we legitimately have a solid chance of moving up the standings the rest of the way rather than just hoping we can hold off the dregs of the league for the last playoff spot.
Now we need to beat Atlanta on the road. A draw won't do it. We need 3 more points to hold onto 4th place and to have any chance of catching 3rd place PR.