We are just three days away from the end of the NHL season and while just two playoff spots have to be claimed in the east, 5-8 are still wide open in the Western Conference.
The Night that Was:
The Presidents Trophy winners were in action last night when the Minnesota Wild visited Vancouver, and the Canucks really only needed three players last night. Roberto Luongo made 29 saves for his fourth shutout, and Mason Raymond (14/15) had a pair of goals and Ryan Kesler scored a hat-trick to give him 40 for the season and Vancouver a 5-0 win. Daniel Sedin had a pair of assists in the victory as Antti Miettinen lead the Wild in shots with five. With two games left, the Wild have 82 points and are out of both the playoff race, and the race for a top-five pick.
While it hasn’t been a banner year for the Senators, they sent the Ottawa faithful home with a 3-2 victory last night in overtime. Filip Kuba’s second of the year came 1:16 in to the extra session to give them 74 points on the season. Ottawa almost pulled off the win in regulation though, as despite a goal in the second from Brian Gionta, Jason Spezza nd Bobby Butler scored in the third before Mike Cammalleri scored with just 11 seconds left in the game to send it to OT. Bobby Butler finished the night with a goal and two assists while Spezza had two points, and James Wisniewski lead the way for Montreal with assists on both goals. Win or lose in their last game, Ottawa will finish the season with their lowest point total since 1995/96 (41).
Atlanta did Carolina a huge favour last night. The Thrashers shut the Rangers out as Rob Schremp, Andrew Ladd, and Eric Boulton gave Atlanta a 3-0 win. Schremp finished the night with a goal and an assist while Ondrej Pavelec made 29 saves in the shutout victory, as the Rangers were frustrated all night. While the Rangers do have one game remaining, the Carolina Hurricanes (who sit in ninth) trail them by just two points and have two games remaining.
Dallas was able to keep their playoff hopes alive with a victory last night, but they’ll need a little more help if they want to make the playoffs. Anaheim and Chicago lead them by two points in seventh and eighth and all three have two games remaining. Brandon Yip and Mark Olver scored for Colorado, but Dallas spread out five goals over three periods for the 5-2 win. Brad Richards, Loui Eriksson, and Brenden Morrow all scored last night, and all three of which have 26 or more goals for Dallas this year. Richards and Eriksson had two points each while Jamie Benn had two assists and Matt Duchene had two assists for Colorado.
What’s on Tonight?
Buuuuusssyyy night: Pittsburgh visits the Islanders, Chicago and Detroit meet up in preparation for Sunday’s season-ending matchup, Philadelphia heads to Buffalo, Atlanta hosts Carolina, and it’s the battle in the South as Florida and Tampa Bay meet up. Columbus and Nashville give us another Central Division matchup, while Minnesota and Edmonton do the same in the Northwest. Dallas heads to Colorado, Phoenix hosts San Jose, and L.A. and Anaheim hit the pond in Anaheim.
The Injury Bug:
-Chris Osgood’s injury will keep him out of the last two games of the season for Detroit, and also means that Joey MacDonald will likely be the back-up to start the playoffs. Henrik Zetterberg meanwhile, will miss the remainder of the regular season with a lower-body injury and will be re-assessed once the playoffs arrive.
-Steve Sullivan might be ready to go in one of the Predators last two games of the season along with the playoffs.
-The Sharks are hopeful that Kent Huskins and Scott Nichol will be able to get into game action before the playoffs. The Sharks play two games this weekend.
News Around the League:
-Raffi Torres earned himself a four-game suspension for his hit to the head of Jordan Eberle on Wednesday. He’ll miss the last two regulation games and the first two playoff games.
-And after 19 seasons, long-time Colorado Avalanche and Quebec Nordique (Uh…and I guess Columbus Blue Jacket) Adam Foote will retire from the NHL. The decision had been expected for a long time.
The Overlooked Fantasy Line of the Night:
Rob Schremp’s goal and assist helped sink the New York Rangers last night. Everything was even-strength, leaving him with a plus-two rating and he also took four shots. He did go 0/5 on faceoffs though.
Follow Bryan on Twitter at BryanThiel_88.