Race For The Stanley Cup Playoffs (CHI 8th)

[trwi7]

the Rangers slide to 8th (begin talks about the inevitable Rangers collapse NOW!)

It's hilarious. Every year they're a top 5 seed through the first 50 games and every year they collapse and miss the playoffs.

Carolina can take over the 8th seed with a win in Washington tonight.

Big game for Los Angeles tonight. Win against Columbus and they take a 3 point lead over Nashville when they have played the same amount of games. Lose and it's a 1 point lead.

Anaheim tries to leap over Nashville in the standings and can with a win against Colorado who has sucked balls the last month and a half or so.

Dallas looks to climb the standings and can move from 7th place to 4th place with a win over Minnesota. Minnesota desperately needs these 2 points as well. If they lose the team in the playoffs they'll be closest to is Calgary who will have a 4 point lead on them, but Minnesota will have a game in hand.

[ajaX82]

Detroit has been terrible lately and especially at home. Hopefully getting Edmonton in the Joe tonight is just what we need. A loss here would be a serious confidence killer

[ajaX82]

Huge win!

Got one with under 30 seconds to play and Datysuk had a nasty drag move and wrister in OT. thank goodness

[trwi7]

Big win for the Predators tonight over Colorado. They are now at 80 points, 1 point behind Calgary, Phoenix, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Chicago and Los Angeles have a game in hand against the Predators, Phoenix has played the same number of games and the Predators have two games in hand against Calgary. Anaheim is a point behind Nashville with a game in hand. Crazy.

[WEFFPIM]

The West is a ball cap shuffle at this point. LA and Phoenix got wins so they jump up, Hawks lost in OT but fall two spots, Dallas falls two spots with a loss. Nothing's changed in the East.

I'll will be in attendance for the Sharks-Hawks game tonight. JEALOUS?!?! Find me on Versus!

[WEFFPIM]

Nice job by the Hawks taking the Sharks to the woodshed in the 2nd and chasing Niemi. Hossa and Toews were monsters in that period, and Sharp somehow turned into a distributor. Big game in Dallas on Thursday.

[trwi7]

Huge games tonight.

Hurricanes @ Sabres - Hurricanes need this win. A win puts them 2 points behind both the Sabres and Rangers.

Kings @ Predators - A Kings win puts them back in 4th place and possibly in control of their own destiny in the division. A Nashville win puts them at 82 points which would be huge because one of Calgary and Phoenix is going to lose tonight.

Sharks @ Stars - If the Sharks lose this game and the Kings win the Kings control their own destiny when it comes to the division. If things break right for the Stars tonight, a win could put them in a tie for 4th place with the Blackhawks.

[WEFFPIM]

Everyone on top of the East won last night, the Rangers jump to 7. LA and Phoenix leap over the Hawks while Nashville can't take advantage of Dallas and Calgary losing (that one's for you, twirlz).

Light schedule tonight but a big game in Raleigh between the Leafs and Canes. Really interesting matchup in Detroit between the Caps and Wings tonight on Versus. But maybe the biggest game is out west. A win for Anaheim over the Blues and they take the 8th slot. The Ducks have been hanging around for a bit, they can make their move tonight with everyone else around them off.

[ajaX82]

Beating the Caps is beautiful. Looks like Detroit is out of their annual end of winter slump and ready to do damage in the playoffs

[WEFFPIM]

Everyone's been focusing on New Jersey and Toronto making a charge in the East, but Atlanta is now just four points back, maybe it's time to start focusing on them.

The middle of the West did a complete reshuffle, Phoenix now has home ice, the Kings are 5th. Stars jump to 6th after throttling the Hawks, Calgary jumps into 8th. Nashville one point back in 9th, Anaheim two points back in 10th. And congrats to Vancouver for winning the worst division in the league.

[WEFFPIM]

No movement after tonight's games, though Washington has tied up the Flyers in points atop the East, while Carolina has tied up Buffalo at the bottom of the playoffs. Rangers are riding a three-game winning streak, trying to put a gap between 7th and 8th. Phoenix trying to get a gap between 4th and 5th in the West, now one point back of the Sharks in the Pacific after beating Vancouver.

[WEFFPIM]

Helluva comeback by Nashville in Buffalo tonight puts them in 7th, a wild one in Anaheim puts the Ducks back in 8th. Hawks beat the Coyotes late to leap to 5th. The first two of those games were three-pointers, which are probably the main reason why the West is in this mess in the first place.

[WEFFPIM]

The dreaded three point game reared it's ugly head in both games last night. The Wings held a furious comeback against the Pens, but Pittsburgh still won. The Kings beat the Flames in a shootout. The latter changed the standings with the Kings moving up to 5th, one point back of Phoenix. The Flames stay at 10, but now tied with Dallas and Anaheim and one point back of Chicago and Nashville.

A lot of games tonight, most out East. Devils need to essentially win out, they're at slumping Boston. Rangers look to continue to roll against the Panthers, Buffalo is in Montreal, with Carolina hoping to take advantage of that against Ottawa. Washington and Philly duel for the top spot in the conference. Toronto is at Minnesota. Tampa hosts the Islanders...that's all for that one.

In the West, Nashville and Phoenix host cupcakes in Edmonton and St. Louis respectively. Columbus and Colorado play for the hell of it.

[Mr Swagtastic]

Really hope we avoid Chicago in the 1st round would love to play Nashville I think we match up with them a lot better and seem to play better against them.

The West looks like a solid race I mean there is 1-3 point race from 5th-9th going to be a good intresting last few weeks of the regular season

[trwi7]

Really nervous about Nashville hosting Edmonton. We suck against them, 1-1-1 this year.

Also, Nashville is 4-1 against Detroit this year, so maybe you do want Chicago.

[ajaX82]

Really hope we avoid Chicago in the 1st round would love to play Nashville I think we match up with them a lot better and seem to play better against them.

The West looks like a solid race I mean there is 1-3 point race from 5th-9th going to be a good intresting last few weeks of the regular season

I could be wrong, but I think Nashville has taken down Detroit the last four meetings. So thats actually a team I definitely don't want to see. With the cluster that is the middle of the West, who knows who we will actually see come playoff time

[Nolan]

Really nervous about Nashville hosting Edmonton. We suck against them, 1-1-1 this year.

Also, Nashville is 4-1 against Detroit this year, so maybe you do want Chicago.

Don't worry we really really suck. And you guys are already up 2-0.

[trwi7]

Really nervous about Nashville hosting Edmonton. We suck against them, 1-1-1 this year.

Also, Nashville is 4-1 against Detroit this year, so maybe you do want Chicago.

Don't worry we really really suck. And you guys are already up 2-0.

Yeah, I know but the last couple times we played Edmonton I was way too confident and Nashville only ended up getting 1 out of 4 points. I'm not doing that again.

[WEFFPIM]

The bottom half of the Eastern playoffs isn't any clearer since the Rangers, Sabres, Canes and Leafs all won. Washington officially clinches a berth.

Phoenix now just a point back of San Jose for the Pacific, Nashville moves up to 6th.

Only four games on Wednesday, including an awesome battle between the Canucks and Wings. But the biggest game of the night is in Dallas as the Stars host the Ducks. Both tied with 85 points, but Anaheim holds the 8th spot while Dallas is out. One of them is getting 87 points, putting more importance on the Hawks hosting the Panthers. Calgary also sits at 85 points, they're at San Jose.

Jesus.

[Nolan]

^
I just love the west.