By Steven Lienert
The Phanatic Magazine
The defending Stanley Cup champions can defend it no more.
Tampa Bay scored two third-period goals to knock off the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday night, thus ending any chance the Canes had at making the playoffs.
Toronto held off the pesky Flyers in overtime, 3-2, to also keep their playoff hopes alive. The Leafs trail Montreal by a single point in the standings, and both teams will face off in their season finale on Saturday night in Toronto.
First things first, though -- the Canadiens travel to Madison Square Garden on Thursday, while the Leafs skate on the Island. The Rangers and Lightning are two points ahead of the Habs for the sixth and seventh spots, meaning the MTL-NYR game will have major implications.
The Lightning trail division-leading Atlanta by one point, meaning Tampa could lead-frog the Thrashers for the third-seed.
Here are some scenarios: Rangers and Leafs win Thursday setting up Saturday's dramatic conclusion for the eighth spot in the East. The Rangers would then have 94 points, the Leafs 91 and Montreal 90. New York would sew up at least the seventh spot and the winner of Saturday's game would be eighth.
If Montreal wins Thursday, it makes things difficult for the Leafs. They would then need the Penguins to defeat the Rangers on Saturday, while earning victories on Thursday and Saturday.
Meanwhile, if the Thrashers beat the Capitals on Wednesday, it would give them 95 points, three ahead of Tampa. The Hurricanes then beat Atlanta on Friday, while the Lightning knocks off lowly Florida, setting up a division-title showdown between Atlanta and Tampa on Saturday, with the third seed on the line.
If Atlanta loses to Washington and Tampa beats Florida, Tampa would temporarily be in the third seed entering Saturday's Southeast division showdown.
What's gonna happen? My crystal puck says Atlanta holds off Tampa for the third-seed, the Lightning will be the sixth-seed, followed by the Rangers and then the Habs. The Leafs are on the outside looking in.
Most teams have just two games left to determine the fate of an entire season. If the end of the regular season is this good, how awesome will the playoffs be?
Lienert skates into the playoffs at slienert@phanaticmag.com
2 comments:
The Western Conference, meanwhile, is pretty ho-hum, with just about everything decided. Thankfully we have the East to make things interesting this weekend - including the irony of Marty Broduer trying to break Bernie Parent's season-wins record against the Flyers.
looks like you should spend some money fixing the cracks in that crystal puck.
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