Tuesday was an enormous day for the NHL’s playoff race, offering readability for the Western Convention and setting the stage for chaos within the Japanese Convention.
On the subject of the Western Convention, the eight-team subject is formally set — in addition to all the first-round matchups — due to Tuesday’s wins for the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues.
The matchups within the West shall be as follows:
Winnipeg Jets (Central Division winner) vs. St. Louis Blues (wild-card No. 2)
Dallas Stars (No. 2 seed in Central Division) vs. Colorado Avalanche (No. 3 seed in Central Division)
Vegas Golden Knights (Pacific Division winner) vs. Minnesota Wild (wild-card No. 1)
Los Angeles Kings (No. 2 seed in Pacific Division) vs. Edmonton Oilers (No. 3 seed in Pacific Division)
It’s a fascinating collection of matchups.
Within the Dallas-Colorado collection, you’ve got two of the very best groups within the league going head-to-head, with the added drama of Dallas’ Mikko Rantanen dealing with the workforce that traded him earlier this season after the Avs have been unable to get him signed to a long-term contract extension.
Within the Vegas-Minnesota collection, there’s a likelihood that we might see Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury should play in opposition to considered one of his former groups (Vegas) if he will get into any of the video games.
Los Angeles-Edmonton is noteworthy as a result of will probably be the fourth consecutive 12 months the 2 groups have confronted off within the first spherical, with the Oilers profitable every of the earlier three. Each groups are going to be beneath immense stress to win. The Oilers are very a lot in a Stanley Cup or bust mentality with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl nonetheless of their primes and nonetheless in search of their first Cup. The Kings simply have to show they will take the following step of their growth and truly knock off the Oilers.
Whereas the remaining two days of the common season are going to be meaningless within the Western Convention, it’s the actual reverse story within the East the place the Montreal Canadiens and Columbus Blue Jackets are nonetheless preventing for the lone remaining wild-card spot.
Montreal is presently clinging to that spot, however Columbus narrowed the hole and offered a ton of stress with its 3-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday evening.
The situation right here is easy: If Montreal merely positive aspects one level in opposition to the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday (a Carolina workforce with nothing to play for), the Canadiens are within the playoffs. It may very well be a regulation win, it may very well be an extra time or shootout win, it may very well be an extra time or shootout loss.
Any of these outcomes places Montreal in and provides it a first-round collection in opposition to the Washington Capitals.
But when Montreal loses Wednesday’s recreation in regulation, that may set the stage for a completely huge recreation for the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday after they host the New York Islanders. A regulation loss by the Canadiens on Wednesday, mixed with a regulation win by the Blue Jackets on Thursday, would give Columbus the second wild-card spot.
