NHL Playoff Death Watch: Bruins stumble, and wild night ahead in West
Since we’re down to the final moments of postseason life for teams in contention, Puck Daddy solemnly begins a daily countdown to annihilation.
The New York Rangers’ win over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday gave them some much-needed breathing room over the Pittsburgh Penguins, but it could be short-lived: The Penguins still have two games in-hand as they sit four points in back of the Rangers.
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The Bruins, meanwhile, are right back at it on Thursday against the Florida Panthers, sitting three points up on the Detroit Red Wings, who have a game in-hand and visit Montreal. The two teams have one more game against each other, in Detroit on April 7. There’s still a chance that the Bruins tumble out of the playoff seedings — there’s a roughly 14-percent chance, actually, that they finish out of the wild card.
The Islanders, meanwhile, won a must-win against the lowly Ottawa “Everything Must Go!” Senators, moving four points up on the Philadelphia Flyers in the wild card race and inching one point in back of the Penguins with 10 games to play for each. They face each other on April 2.
Here are the current standings. The Death Watch tracks the final Wild Card spot and the teams that are chasing it. Their “tragic number” is the number of points gained by the final wild card team or lost by the team chasing it.
All playoff percentages are from Sports Club Stats; tragic numbers and other figures via the NHL. A team is eliminated from play-offs when their “Tragic Number” hits 0.
The Eastern Conference picture, via the NHL:
The Bruins can close the gap to one point behind the first-place Lightning and the Panthers with a win over Florida, although the Lightning will have two games in-hand and significant tie-breaker advantage.
The Penguins are in New Jersey to face the Devils, while the Flyers seek to maintain their wild card spot in a game against a team in the West chasing the wild card: The Colorado Avalanche.
A Flyers win and a Columbus regulation loss to the Carolina Hurricanes would eliminate the Blue Jackets.
Here are the latest Eastern Conference playoff odds from Sports Club Stats:
*Wild Card Teams
Meanwhile, in the West:
After a night off, it’s a huge night in the West, as the Dallas Stars are in Arizona looking to extend their conference lead; the LA Kings try to right the ship at the Winnipeg Jets; the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks attempt not to fumble away more points in winnable games against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers; the Nashville Predators get their game in-hand on the Blackhawks with the Canucks at home, trying to close the gap to two points behind Chicago; the Minnesota Wild host the Calgary Flames, up a point on the Avalanche, who host the Flyers.
Whew.
Here are the latest Western Conference playoff odds from Sports Club Stats:
*Wild Card Teams
The Jets can be eliminated with a Wild win and a regulation loss to the Los Angeles Kings
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
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