The Stanley Cup playoff race is nearing completion with the regular season coming to a close, but with some ten games left there are still a few races worth keeping an eye on. Let’s go through the three of four teams to keep an eye on as the season draws to a close.
Outside of some juggling for position in the Eastern Conference, everything is pretty much locked in there. The Western Conference is where the games during the coming weeks still mean something, and let’s go over the teams we are talking about.
The Wild Card Race:
- Nashville Predators 89 Pts 73 GP
- Dallas Stars 88 Pts 73 GP
- Vegas Golden Knights 85 Pts 74 GP*
- Vancouver Canucks 82 Pts 74 GP
The bolded teams are the teams currently in playoff positions if the postseason started today. The Golden Knights have an asterisk because they could still get into the postseason through their division considering the Los Angeles Kings have 88 points having played 76 games. Oh and the Canucks are in italics because honestly, they are only making the playoffs if they win every single game left this season which would be fun to watch.
So what are the big races to keep an eye on? The Kings and Golden Knights’ race for the final position in the Pacific Division will be fun to see. LA lost last night to the Colorado Avalanche, but their next six games all have one big thing in common – they come against teams outside of the playoffs.
The Kings get to faceoff against the Blue Jackets, Ducks twice, Blackhawks, Kraken, and Canucks. For a team that literally could need every point to get to the playoffs, the Kings do have some favorable matchups ahead.
On the other hand of the things, the Golden Knights do have some tough games to come. They have to face off against teams like the Flames, Capitals, Blues, Oilers, and Stars. All of those teams are definitely beatable when looking at the Knights roster, but that hasn’t been the case this season.
It is amazing to think that this could be the year that Vegas misses out on the postseason. This is arguably one of the best rosters they have had, albeit injured, but still one of the best teams on paper.
There is still a scenario where one of Nashville or Dallas doesn’t make the playoffs, but that comes down to how they play and how LA and Vegas do down the stretch. These four teams are going to be fun to keep an eye on the next few weeks, now just imagine if the NHL started to do a play in series like the NBA, then we could be talking about even more matchups right about now.3