Hockey Widow wrote:The 8 seeds in the East are now set, just match ups left to determine. AS of tonight Toronto would face Montreal round 1.
The NYI, NYR and Ottawa all lock up a playoff spot, Winnipeg done.
In the WESt we have three teams fighting for two spots. Each has 3 games left.
The Jets, with their injuries, aren't quite good enough. Maybe next year.
Detroit does not want to go gently into that good night, it seems.
St Louis just got a whole lot less likely (good!)... they win and vault into 4th with 58 points. LA and SJ with 57. All have one game left (LA and SJ with each other). LA has the tiebreaker over St Louis. The only way we play St Louis is if LA beats SJ in overtime/shootout, and St Louis loses their last game to Chicago in regulation. Otherwise we likely play the loser of LA/SJ (Minny is still a remote possibility if they win out and SJ loses in regulation). I'd rather play the team that was selling pieces at the deadline (SJ).
edit: and Columbus wins. Nice, as I'd to see them get in. Minnesota now has a non-trivial chance of missing the playoffs. I would sooooooo much rather see Chicago face the red hot Blue Jackets rather than the dead-on-arrival Wild.