NHL playoff scramble tightens
With the regular season winding down, the playoff field shifted dramatically—coverage noted the bracket moved from nine to 13 teams during Saturday’s slate and several spots remain undecided entering the final Sunday. ( ) The Seattle Kraken were officially eliminated for a third straight season and the Detroit Red Wings were also knocked out, while the Bruins, Golden Knights and Oilers sat on the verge of clinching as of Saturday. ( )
The National Hockey League playoff race reached its final Sunday with one Eastern Conference berth and one Western Conference wild-card spot still unsettled. (sports.yahoo.com) After Saturday’s games, 13 teams had clinched playoff spots. In the East, the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins locked up the two wild cards, while the Philadelphia Flyers led the race for third place in the Metropolitan Division at 94 points, ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets at 92 and the Washington Capitals and New York Islanders at 91. (sports.yahoo.com, espn.com) In the West, the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers both clinched on Saturday, but the bracket kept moving. Vegas beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 in overtime on Jack Eichel’s goal at 1:19 and moved to 91 points, one ahead of Edmonton for first place in the Pacific Division. (nhl.com, sports.yahoo.com) Edmonton lost 1-0 to the Los Angeles Kings, then clinched later Saturday when the Winnipeg Jets lost 7-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers. The Kings stayed in the second Western wild card at 87 points, one ahead of the Nashville Predators, while the Anaheim Ducks held third in the Pacific at 89 points and Utah had already clinched at 90. (nhl.com, sports.yahoo.com) The format is tight by design: the top three teams in each division qualify automatically, and each conference adds two wild cards. The first tiebreaker is regulation wins, which is why one point or one late result can reorder both the field and the first-round matchups. (nhl.com, cbssports.com) That left Sunday’s attention split between seeding and survival. The Eastern question was whether Philadelphia could hold off Columbus, Washington and New York for the Metropolitan’s No. 3 spot, while the Western question was whether Los Angeles could stay above Nashville for the last wild card. (sports.yahoo.com, cbssports.com) Two teams were formally pushed out Saturday. Detroit was eliminated with a loss to New Jersey and missed the playoffs for a 10th straight season, and Seattle was eliminated for a third straight year when the Kings’ win over Edmonton closed off the Kraken’s path. (freep.com, nhl.com) Seattle still beat Calgary 4-1 later Saturday, but the result only changed the mood, not the math. Detroit’s loss also helped Boston clinch, turning a 2-1 Bruins defeat against Tampa Bay into a playoff celebration anyway. (seattletimes.com, boston.com) The regular season ends on April 16, and the first round is scheduled to begin on April 18. Before then, the standings still have room to flip matchups in both conferences, even with most of the field already known. (sports.yahoo.com)
