The end of the NHL regular season is quickly creeping upon us. As we see the Washington Capitals become the first to secure a spot in the playoffs, its amazing to look at the schedule and notice that most teams only have about a dozen games left. With so few games left and so many teams close in the standings (I'm looking at you Metro division), it will be an absolute drag down, knockout, fight to the finish. So lets take a look at our five teams and see where they are going to fall in here towards the end of the season.
1.) Calgary Flames
Lets talk about the Flames first as they have been on fire as of late. Out of their past 10 games, Calgary has won 9 of them, most coming either in overtime or by more than two goals. The Flames are also sitting at a good position in the standings as they currently 3rd in the Pacific Division. The closest team to overtake the Flames in the Pacific is The Edmonton Oilers who sit one point back of the Flames. It will be interesting to see if the Flames stay in 3rd as the Oilers are so close to them and play a similar schedule for the last three weeks of the season. But if they keep playing strong as they have for the past 10 games, it will come as no surprise to anyone to see the Flames make the post season by a nice berth. Now speaking of teams in the post season I feel there isn't a more fitting team to talk about than this next one.
2.) The Columbus Blue Jackets
As of Sunday night March 19th the Columbus Blue Jackets have secured their spot in the 2017 NHL Playoffs. The Blue Jackets are currently second in the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference and have had strong play all year long. In the month of March the Jackets have gone 8 and 2, with both of those losses only being decided by a goal or two. Columbus also has 100 points which puts them at 2nd in the entire league.
And the Jackets don't want to stop at just there. After their convincing 4 to 1 win over the New Jersey Devils this past Sunday, center Brandon Dubinsky expressed the team's interest in winning the Presidents Trophy. Which is the trophy for the team that finishes 1st in the NHL at the end of the regular season. Columbus could easily make this a reality as they are actually tied with Washington for 1st place, it's just that Washington has a game in hand over the Blue Jackets. Columbus also has a pretty nice schedule to finish out their season as well. There will be about 4 games out of their last 11 that will be against teams that are at the Blue Jackets level. It could make for a great story in franchise history going from second to last the season before and then becoming President's Trophy champions.
3.) Edmonton Oilers
Speaking of playoff teams, lets have a look at the Oilers shall we? As I mentioned in the analysis of the Calgary Flames, Edmonton currently holds the 1st Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. Now for the Oilers they are only a couple points shy of having one of the place spots in the Pacific Division. And their closest rival for the 1st Wild Card spot is the Nashville Predators who sit four points back from them with the same amount of games played.
Unfortunately for Edmonton the rest of their remaining schedule is against other Western Conference teams and mainly division foes. Including multiple games against the Anaheim Ducks and the San Jose Sharks who are 1st and 2nd in the Pacific Division. If Edmonton is able to hold their own against these top level teams, it will come as no surprise to see them in the post season. That spot though most likely won't be clinched until the very end of the NHL regular season.
4.) Carolina Hurricanes
Unlike the three teams mentioned above, the Hurricanes aren't as likely to be in the playoffs this season. While they haven't been mathematically been eliminated yet, they do sit 3 spots outside of the last wild card slot in the Eastern Conference. There end of the season schedule is also fairly difficult for them, including facing both the second and third place teams in the Metro Division. As of late though, Carolina has been on quite a nice run of hockey.
The Hurricanes have won 7 our of their last 10 games, mostly against teams higher in the standings then them. So if they are able to keep their play at a high enough level, Carolina can challenge the Islanders for that last playoff spot. But they are also going against Boston and Tampa Bay. Both of who have also been picking up steam as the season comes to an end. Carolina will have an uphill battle if they want to make the playoffs in the last three weeks of the season.
5.) New Jersey Devils
The Devils are in a very different place right now. The team is in last place in the Eastern Conference, and third to last in the league. After a strong start to the season, New Jersey has disappointed in most aspects. Goaltender Cory Schneider has not had the season that many thought he would be able to, only going 20-23-10 this season, putting him at 23rd in the league for wins. Which is not what a team needs from a starting goaltender to equal success.
Even the players that the Devils traded for in the off season didn't amount to too much. New Jersey was able to get Taylor Hall from the Oilers in a big trade over the summer. But Hall ended spending up a chunk of the season on the sidelines due to a knee injury that required surgery. While the Devils were most likely hoping Hall would end up being close to a 30 goal scorer for them as he has been in the past. Right now though he only has 18 goals on the season with 10 games left. The Devils are going to have to make a lot of improvements in the off season to try and get back into the playoff race next season.
As you can tell, many teams are very close in the standings during this crucial time of the NHL season. The last three weeks for several teams are going to be the most important games of their season. It will be fun to watch to see which teams are able to make that last push to make it into the playoffs. The NHL and its fans are in for a fun ride to the end. I can't wait for the nail bitters to come and then the post season.
