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Western Conference Playoff Picture




Western Conference Playoff Picture


With the Calgary Flames and St. Louis Blues clinching their playoff spots, there is only one remaining spot left for Western Conference teams, the second wild card spot. The Nashville Predators look like they have the spot locked up. They can clinch with a win against the Minnesota Wild today and a Los Angeles Kings loss tomorrow. The Kings are at the Staples Center in Los Angeles to face the Arizona Coyotes. The Kings are the only team out of a playoff spot that hasn't been mathematically eliminated yet. The Colorado Avalanche, Coyotes, Vancouver Canucks, Dallas Stars, and Winnipeg Jets have all fallen out of playoff contention. With the teams set, let's look at the probable seedings for the first round of the playoffs.

 Central Division First Seed- Chicago Blackhawks
 The Blackhawks have been on a roll in their last eleven games, losing only one contest in regulation and beating top-tier teams such as Pittsburgh and Columbus by scores of 5-1 and 3-1. The roll dates back to the start of February, as the Blackhawks have gone 20-4-2 in that span. A large part of that success has been due to Patrick Kane, who is second in the league in points with 87, trailing only Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid. He is seventh in the league in goals with 34 and is third in the league in assists, with 53. The Blackhawks have a nine-point cushion on the Minnesota Wild for division lead with four games to play, while the Wild have a game in hand.
*UPDATE*-Blackhawks have clinched the Central Division and Western Conference with a Wild loss to the Nashville Predators.

 Central Division Second Seed- Minnesota Wild
Where the Blackhawks have been winning games, the Wild have been on a death spiral. The Wild went 1-10-2 during the month of March, losing ten in a row at one point, including a crucial game against the division rival Blackhawks, who have since taken over the division lead. A positive is that the Wild have four players in the top ten in plus-minus (Ryan Suter, Jason Zucker, Jared Spurgeon, and Mikko Koivu-Suter and Zucker are first and second in the league, with +34 and +32.) The Wild have a fairly easy schedule in front of them, with two games against the league-worst Colorado Avalanche, games against Carolina and Arizona and only one game against a playoff contender, tonight against the Nashville Predators. (Loss 3-0.) Anything can happen, however-the Coyotes beat the league-best Capitals 6-3 last night, and the Wild have been unpredictable of late.
Central Division Third Seed-St. Louis Blues
This one is a toss-up, it could go to St. Louis or Nashville, and the teams have fairly similar schedules. The Blues have been playing better hockey than the Predators lately, and the Blues are an experienced team. St. Louis also owns the ROW tiebreaker, where they rank seventh in the league (Nashville ranks fourteenth.) Which team gets this spot depends on the winner of their April 2 matchup in St. Louis and if Ryan Johansen (13 G, 46 A, 59 P) and Filip Forsberg (30 G, 26 A, 56 P) perform better than Vladmir Tarasenko (36 G, 33 A, 69 P) and Jake Allen. A good Blues power play against a struggling Predators penalty kill, and the Blues will win the biggest game of their season and keep the third spot.
Pacific Division First Seed- Edmonton Oilers
The Oilers are currently one point back of Anaheim for the division lead and top seed, but that will change after tonight. The Ducks will come into a rocking Rodgers Place coming off of an overtime loss to the lowly Winnipeg Jets. Cam Talbot will be solid, and the Oiler's depth will come through. Edmonton will dominate the dots (they lead the league in FOW%-Faceoff win percentage), and Leon Draisaitl (27 G, 45 A, 72 P) will continue to enjoy what is known as the Connor McDavid (28 G, 63 A, 91 P) effect. After the Oilers win, they'll hit the road for a three-game road trip, going 2-1 and losing to the San Jose Sharks. The Oilers will finish out the season at home, beating the Vancouver Canucks and wrapping up the top spot in the Pacific.

 Pacific Division Second Seed- Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks have a rough April ahead of them. After going on the road to Edmonton, they continue their trip to Calgary, where the red-hot Flames wait for them as part of a home-and-home. In their last two games, they finish against the first-place Blackhawks and the Kings. Ryan Getzlaf (14 G, 52 A, 66 P) is having another one of those seasons, he is fifth in the league in assists, and he and trade-deadline acquisition Patrick Eaves (28 G, 18 A, 46 P) have both been productive and should continue to be during the playoffs. Whether they get the Sharks or Flames in the first round, the Ducks should be able to handle either team but the Oilers will be their problem.

 Pacific Division Third Seed- Calgary Flames
The Flames have proved that they can play with great teams. A twelve-game win streak has put them into the playoffs, after they clinched their spot last night with a win over the division rival Sharks, who they look to overtake for the third seed in the division. The four games Calgary has left are against division rivals, with two against Anaheim and games against Los Angeles and San Jose. Calgary's special teams aren't anything special, but having Johnny Gaudreau (18 G, 42 A, 60 P) and rookie Matthew Tkachuck (13G, 34 A, 47 P) will help them make a run at the Stanley Cup.

 First Wild Card- Nashville Predators
Nashville has an easier schedule than San Jose, with games against the lowly Stars and Jets, and contests against the rival Blues and New York Islanders. Nashville has proved that they can take good teams, with a 3-0 win over Minnesota, and should be able to beat most or all of the remaining teams on their schedule. If Nashville is to make a serious deep playoff run, they will have to go through good Pacific division teams and eventually the Blackhawks. Whether or not the Predators can do that depends on the performance of P.K. Subban (10 G, 27 A, 37 P) and if they can continue to perform well in terms of goal-scoring (they rank ninth in the league in goals for). The Predators will need a little more help from Mike Fisher (17 G, 24 A, 41 P), and they can't rely on Filip Forsberg to carry them.

 Second Wild Card- San Jose Sharks
Brent Burns (28 G, 45 A, 73 P) is having a career year a year too late. He is the Norris favorite, as he leads all defensemen in points and goals. Had he had this type of season last year, it would have been enough for the Sharks to become Stanley Cup Champions. Joe Thornton (7 G, 43 A, 50 P) and Patrick Marleau (26 G, 19 A, 45 P) aren't getting any younger, and last year was the best shot for them to win a Cup. The Shark's other Joe, Joe Pavelski (29 G, 38 A, 67 P), is slowing in goal-scoring compared to last year's 38 tallies. The Sharks will have to change something for them to make a return to the Stanley Cup Finals.

 That's all for today. Next up will be the Eastern Conference Playoff Picture.

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