Sabres, Panthers Pick Up Big Win–So Do Predators and Blues!

Whoa, everybody hold everything.  Last night’s games left the playoff picture extremely muddled up.  Let’s start off with Buffalo’s big win first.  The Sabres beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in a shoot-out.  The win kept the Sabres slim playoff hopes alive.  The Canadiens got 1 point out of the game so all was not lost for their continuing quest of a playoff spot.  Buffalo is now just 4 points behind Montreal for 8th place in the eastern conference.  The Florida Panthers also won last night to creep within 1 point of Montreal.  The New York Rangers lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3.  The Rangers are not playing their best hockey right now, if they don’t get it together for these last few games of the season then their season will quickly come to a screeching halt.  Summer in New York outside the rink, not bad but probably not what the Rangers have in mind.  The Rangers are 1 point ahead of Montreal.

The Western conference is just as muddled as the eastern.  Last night Nashville and St.Louis won their respective games.  The Predators beat the Los Angeles Kings in ovetime 4-3.  The Blues also won their game in overtime, however they needed to go to a shootout to claim the victory against Columbus.  With the win, Nashville banged back up into the number 7 spot in the standings.  St.Louis’ win was vital for them, it keeps the Blues in the playoff chase just 3 points back.

Today’s slate of games is what makes watching hockey so much fun.  All the teams in the western conference fighting for the last two playoff spots are all in action later tonight.  The Playoff picture could get a little clearer after all the games.

Check back later for updates.