Stanley Cup race tight
The NHL regular season is winding down with the Stanley Cup playoffs scheduled to begin April 18 and multiple spots still undecided. (usatoday.com) With less than a week left, NHL.com reported that seven of the 16 playoff berths and two division titles remained up for grabs. (nhl.com)
The National Hockey League playoff picture is still moving with five days left in the regular season and seven berths not yet claimed. (nhl.com) The playoffs are scheduled to open on April 18, but the bracket is not set. As of April 13, the league’s official “if the playoffs started today” matchups still show open races in both conferences. (nhl.com) In the Eastern Conference, Carolina had clinched the Metropolitan Division, and Pittsburgh had locked up second place there. Philadelphia, Washington and Columbus were still bunched around the final wild-card race, with Philadelphia on 94 points, Washington on 93 and Columbus on 92. (espn.com) The Atlantic Division was even tighter at the top. Buffalo and Montreal each sat on 106 points on April 13, with Tampa Bay at 104, and National Hockey League tiebreakers gave Buffalo the edge over both clubs on regulation wins. (espn.com; nhl.com) In the Western Conference, Colorado led the Central Division with 115 points, while Dallas had 108 and Minnesota had 102, all already in the field. Utah and Nashville were still fighting for the second wild-card spot, with Utah on 90 points and Nashville on 87. (espn.com) The Pacific Division race was also compressed. Vegas had 91 points, Edmonton had 90 and Anaheim had 90, leaving first place and the division’s playoff seeding unsettled in the final week. (espn.com) The format is what keeps so many teams alive. The top three clubs in each division qualify automatically, then each conference adds two wild cards, so a team can miss a division slot and still reach the postseason. (nhl.com) Tiebreakers are now part of the nightly scoreboard watch. The National Hockey League lists regulation wins first, then regulation-and-overtime wins, then total wins, which is why Buffalo entered the week holding the inside track in the Atlantic despite the points tie. (nhl.com) Saturday’s games tightened the picture again. The league said four teams clinched berths that day, while Washington stayed alive and Detroit was eliminated from contention. (nhl.com; usatoday.com) That leaves the last week doing what the last week is supposed to do: turning ordinary April games into playoff games before the playoffs even begin on April 18. (nhl.com; nhl.com)
