It’s been said that the best hockey of an NHL season isn’t truly seen until the playoffs, but in my humble opinion the race for the playoffs in the final month of the regular season can bring about excitement every bit as worthwhile as a playoff game.
This season is no exception, as once again several teams are battling to clinch the final two playoff berths in each conference, and every remaining game in this season for those teams carries the same importance as a post-season contest.
In the Eastern Conference, seventh and eighth overall are very much up for grabs, with the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers desperately clinging to those two berths, with the Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals breathing down their collective necks.
As of this writing, only five points separate seventh-place Boston from 11th place Florida, with the Flyers, Capitals and Sabres sandwiched between them.
Looking at the standings as of March 19th, the Bruins have 83 points, the Flyers 82, the Capitals 80, Sabres 79 and Panthers 78.
Of these five team, the Capitals and Panthers have been red-hot, both clubs winning seven of their last ten games, which doesn’t bode well for the struggling Bruins (3-4-3), Flyers (4-3-3) and Sabres (4-4-2). If the Caps and Panthers can keep up their torrid pace they could end up playoff bound.
The race isn’t quite so close in the Western Conference, as a four-point gap separates the eighth overall Colorado Avalanche from the 9th overall Nashville Predators and the Avs also enjoy a five point gap over the 10th overall Edmonton Oilers.
As of March 19th the Avalanche had the same number of points (84) as the sixth overall Vancouver Canucks and seventh overall Calgary Flames. These three clubs appear to control their destiny over their final handful of games.
Still, these three clubs cannot afford a letdown. The Predators may be struggling (4-6-0 in their last ten games) but they’re not out of the hunt yet, and with 8 games remaining still have enough time to claw their way into a berth of the Avs, Flames or Canucks stumble.
The Oilers also cannot be completely counted out, having gone on a remarkable 8-2-0 streak in their last ten games and with 8 games remaining they too have enough time to catch those ahead of them if they falter.
Wouldn’t it be great if it came down to a final game of the season for one of these teams, as it did last year for the NY Islanders?
The Isles blew a two-goal lead in their final game of the 2007 season against the New Jersey Devils but won it in a shootout thanks to a savvy poke-check by Islanders backup goalie Wade Dubielewicz, clinching the last playoff berth in the East in a thrilling contest.
Consider this battle for the final playoff spots a primer for the upcoming 2008 Stanley Cup Finals. Who knows, maybe one of these teams could go on to become a “giant killer” in this year’s post-season.
With all Northwest Division teams playing each other twice over the last couple of weeks of the season, it's anybody's guess who's making the playoffs.
Although four points back, Nashville has on paper the easiest schedule of the non-playoff teams (two games each against St. Louis, Columbus and Chicago, plus another pair against Detroit). You've got to think that Nashville can win at least six of the eight.
Of the playoff clubs, Vancouver has the toughest schedule: three games against Calgary, and pairs of games against Minnesota, Colorado and Edmonton.
If I had to put the mortgage money at risk, I'd predict that Vancouver falls by the wayside and Nashville edges them out by a point.
As for my beloved Oilers... at the start of the season I said they'd be better than most people expect, but not quite as good as most Oilers fans hope. My pre-season prediction that the Oilers would earn 86 points, finish 10th overall in the conference and flirt with a playoff spot but come up short seems to be panning out. (I must admit, there was a point there when Edmonton was in last place that I'd feared my crystal ball was cracked.)
That said, I'd sure love to be proven wrong by the kids playing hard these next couple of weeks and have the Oilers squeak into the playoffs. After all the injuries this year -- the Oilers lost a record number of man-games last year and will easily TOP that number this season -- it would be quite the accomplishment. Maybe even worth Jack Adams consideration...
How about the race atop the Eastern Conference. The battle for first between my Pens, Devils, Canandians, and Sens is really great hockey to watch. They always seems to be leapfrogging each other just about every other day. Pens/Devils Saturday night could be the decieder. Should be great to watch the rest of the way.
The Isles actually let in the tying goal with about 2 seconds to go in the last game of the season last year.
I remember Montreal and Toronto playing a 5-4 game or a 6-5 game that was totally insane too !
just my opinion, but I dont really care for how every team is pretty much involved in the playoff hunt. With the invention of the loser point, and the fact that the schedule for the next 3 weeks puts division teams against one another until the end of the season, it makes me think the league is trying too hard to force excitement.
I think the end-of-season divisional games are great. Matt makes a good point about the fact that Nashville's chasing three teams who all play each other (and Minn/Edm) a lot for the rest of the season. Assuming they're not all NW div overtime wins, a winning Nashville team could catch one of them. And Edmonton's even got a long-shot chance as it gets to play mostly teams that it's chasing.
Damn the NW is competitive! They've got 3 of the 5 up-for-grabs playoff spots, while the Pacific has 2 (Ana/Dal) and Central has 0.
I agree with Messier94. I won't really care much until there is less than a week of the season left, then if Colorado doesn't make it or is out early I won't care much about the playoffs either (except for Pittsburgh). I'll just turn my attention to Steve Nash, LBJ, and the Celtics.
The "loser point" has totally ruined any potential the stretch run had, there will be too many OT losses, and since all the NW teams only play each other it will be like a double loss to the other teams. There's no favorable outcome except hoping none of the games go to OT (bad start already) and choosing one of the other teams and hope they win all their games as well. Like last night, oh good, San Jose beat Minny... oh, in a shootout, big whoop.
You can't have nail-biting excitement to end every season, it becomes old hat, especially when it's so "forced" as Messier94 posted.
Hey Spec, be interested to know which teams to look out for to play the biggest spoiler roles. I like to think my Blues are but unfortunately with the schedule, the only playoff team we face is Det. for two games.
I could see Kirk Muller as Head coach of the Leafs.Montreal has one of the better systems in the NHL. What they need is a Top Scorer to go along with it. He would bring that system to the leafs and therefore make them a better team.
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
