NHL Playoff Positions Still a Mystery For Western Conference Teams: Eastern As Well!!

New York got a huge win last night over the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden.  The Rangers scored two 2nd period goals to pace them to a 3-1 win.  Chris Drury netted his 21st and 22nd goal for New York to lead all scorers.  More importantly the Rangers got the critical 2 points to move out of a tie with the Florida Panthers and creep to within a point of Montreal for 7th place in the Eastern conference.

The Panthers lost their game to the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of 2-1.  The Panthers desperately needed this win, their playoff hopes are in some serious trouble.  Judging by who their last 2 games are against ( Washington and Atlanta ), I don’t see how they can make it in.  I don’t see them winning both games and that’s what they need just to have a shot.  Like I said a couple of days ago the Panthers have circled the drain.  Jeff Carter scored his 45th goal for the Flyers in the win.

The Pittsburgh Penguins who were led by Sidney Crosby’s 2 goals beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-4.  With the win the Penguins clinched a spot in the upcoming playoff race for the Stanley Cup.  Evegni Malkin added two assists in the victory.  The Carolina Hurricanes Continued their hot play by exploding for 9 goals over the lowly New York Islanders.  The Islanders, who by the way are the worst team in the NHL played their worst hockey of a terrible season.  They got flattened by a surging Hurricanes team.  Eric Staal had a hat trick and an assist to lead the canes.

Over in the western conference things at the top of the standings stayed the same while at the bottom of the standings there are still 4 teams battling for the last two playoff spots.  The Minnesota Wild got a big win to stay mathematically alive in the playoff race.  The Nashville Predators lost to the Chicago Black Hawks 4-2 in yesterdays match up.  Nashville has lost 3 of their last 4 games, this is not the time to be playing like a team who’s already been eliminated.  The St.Louis Blues are in sole possession of 8th place after a 5-1 win over the Phoenix Coyotes.  The Blues are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.  My money is on St.Louis to get in.

With a 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings the Edmonton Oilers were officially eliminated from the playoff race.

The Vancouver Canucks behind Roberto Luongo’s 46 saves beat the Calgary Flames 4-1 in front of a sold out crowd at the General Motors Place.  The win pulled the Canucks into a tie with the Flames for the lead in the Northwest division.  With only two games to go its a question of who wants it more.  Here’s a fast fact for you, Calgary is 0-31 on the power play in their last 8 games.  These numbers will not get it done, if the power play drought persists Calgary will make a quick exit from the playoff race once it starts.

Lastly, the San Jose Sharks, what can you say they just keep winning.  They shutout the Colorado Avalanche but it took overtime and a shootout to do it.  Evegni Nabokov recorded his 7th shutout of the season for the Sharks turning aside all 20 shots he faced.  This is a team clicking on all cylinders right now.  They will be extremely difficult to beat for any team that is matched up against them.  This would include the Boston Bruins and the Detroit Red Wings who are the number 2 & 3 teams respectfully in the NHL standings, both with over 110 points.