Stanley Cup picture tightens

The National Hockey League playoff field is almost set, but the bracket is still moving with four days left in the regular season and first-round games due to start Saturday, April 18. (nhl.com) (sports.yahoo.com) In the Eastern Conference, the Buffalo Sabres had 108 points through 81 games on Tuesday, with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens at 106, leaving the Atlantic Division order unsettled. Boston had clinched at 98 points, but the Bruins were still sitting in the first wild-card spot, which would line them up against Buffalo if the standings held. (espn.com) (nhl.com) The Metropolitan Division was still shifting too. The Carolina Hurricanes led the East with 111 points, Pittsburgh had 98, Philadelphia had 96, and Ottawa held the second wild card at 97, leaving home ice and first-round pairings unresolved entering the final week. (espn.com) (nhl.com) The West looked cleaner at the top and messier underneath. Colorado had already clinched the Central Division lead with 117 points in 80 games, Dallas had 110, and the Pacific race still had Edmonton on 93, Vegas on 91, Anaheim on 90 and Los Angeles on 89 or 91 depending on games completed, with the wild-card line still in play. (espn.com) (nhl.com) That leaves two separate races in the final days: teams still fighting to get in, and teams already in still trying to avoid the hardest matchup. The National Hockey League’s format sends the top three teams in each division to the playoffs, then adds two wild cards in each conference, so one point in the standings can flip both seeding and opponent. (nhl.com 1) (nhl.com 2) Boston is the clearest example of how little is settled. The Bruins clinched their berth on April 11 with help from losses by Detroit and the New York Islanders after falling 2-1 to Tampa Bay, and local coverage said their first-round seed and opponent were still unresolved heading into the season’s last week. (boston.com) (sports.yahoo.com) Colorado shows the other side of the picture: a team that locked up a top seed but is no longer carrying the same aura into April. Reuters, in a report carried by AOL, noted Tuesday that the Avalanche had won only 19 of their last 35 games and ranked 14th in points percentage over that stretch, even as betting markets still listed them among the Cup favorites. (aol.com) (espn.com) Markets were still pricing Colorado aggressively on April 13, with Vegas Insider listing the Avalanche at a 24% implied chance to win the Stanley Cup, ahead of Carolina at 15% and Tampa Bay at 14%. That gap between season-long results and late-season form is part of what makes the final standings week more than bookkeeping. (vegasinsider.com) (aol.com) The bracket the league showed Tuesday morning had Buffalo against Boston, Tampa Bay against Montreal, Carolina against Ottawa and Pittsburgh against Philadelphia in the East, with Colorado against Nashville, Dallas against Minnesota, Edmonton against Utah and Vegas against Anaheim in the West. Those were provisional matchups, and every one depended on results still to come before Thursday’s regular-season finale. (nhl.com) (sportingnews.com) By Saturday, the league will have a fixed 16-team bracket. Until then, the playoff picture is less about who is alive than who lands where. (nhl.com 1) (nhl.com 2)