Playoff Push

With only three or so weeks left in the regular season the NHL is in full playoff mode. Teams in both conferences are making their last ditch efforts to make the big dance and on both sides of the continent the races are as tight as can be.

The Eastern conference has fewer teams pushing for the top eight spots but it will be a down to the wire finish to see if Winnipeg or Buffalo can overtake Washington or Florida, depending on who win the Southeast, and grab the eight spot. With Ottawa's loss to the lowly Maple Leafs Saturday a Boston win against those same Leafs tomorrow would pretty well wrap up the Northeast division. The Atlantic and top spot in the conference is still up for grabs due to the lackluster play of the Rangers and stellar run by the Penguins. With Crosby and Letang healthy there has to be little debate that they are a favorite going into the post season. They have experience, depth, high level skill at every position and most importantly are peaking at the right time.

In the West thing are wild as usual, and unlike in the east, some solid hockey teams are going to miss the playoffs. Only three points separate seven through eleventh. Colorado has played more games and San Jose has games at hand on the others while Calgary will need to be more consistent if they want to reach the playoffs. How detrimental would it be for the league run Coyotes to miss the playoffs? Would anyone there notice? Dallas has put together a good run but could still be caught in the Pacific. In the Central the St. Louis Blues have been impressive for most of the season and deserve to be on top of the league. The Northwest was never really in doubt and the question is do the Canucks have enough in the tank to make another serious run? Stay tuned.