NHL: Handicapping the Eastern Conference playoff race
By Jasmine Yen
The Cinderella Stories
Everyone loves a Cinderella Story and the Eastern Conference has two very good candidates in the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Philadelphia Flyers.
Columbus Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets embody the “never say die” attitude. John Tortorella has done a fantastic job of getting everything out of his players in each and every game and he has turned a rag-tag group into a playoff threat.
When the Blue Jackets lost all their superstars to free agency, it seemed like the team was ready for a rebuild. However, all the players that stayed have really stepped up, especially their goaltender, Joonas Korpisalo. When Korpisalo went down with an injury, it seemed like Columbus was doomed. In came Elvis Merzlikins and he picked up right where Korpisalo left off.
This is a perfect example of the season the Blue Jackets are having. The right players are stepping up and they are winning as a team. Right now, they have a hold of the top wild-card spot and have gone 14-2-2 in their last 18 games. This hot streak won’t last for the rest of the season, but if they can continue to play with the same ferocity, they just might make the playoffs.
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers have been hit with a truckload of injuries to very important players including Carter Hart and Shane Gotisbehere and have been struggling as of late. They are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games and they need to be better in order to keep up in the tight playoff race.
Next. Which Eastern teams should stay, buy, or sell?. dark
With the kind of competition the Flyers are going against, getting into the playoffs will be a very tough task. They will need to get better goaltending from Brian Elliott until Hart returns to action and get more secondary scoring from their third and fourth lines. It’s a long shot, but the NHL has seen stranger things before.