NHL: Last Week of the Season

What to watch for:

As we enter the last week of the NHL season, the yearly tradition of the race for 8th place in bother conferences is in full swing.
In the Eastern Conference, the best word that can be used to describe the situation is definitely a clusterfuck. Case in point, Montreal sits in 6th place with 86pts and the NY Rangers sit in 9th with 82pts. Including the Thrashers with 81pts in 10th, 5 points separates five teams in the Eastern Conference. The question is, who will end up making the playoffs in the East? The Montreal Canadiens have 3 games remaining, but all 3 are against 3 of the bottom 4 teams in the East. They will likely win at least 2 of those, allowing them to secure a playoff spot, likely in 6th. The Bruins have the toughest road out, as they have to play the Caps twice in their remaining 4 games. They have a game in hand on everyone except the Rangers, so I think that they will be able to scoot into that 7th place spot, in spite of their 2 tilts with the Caps. The Thrashers, I’m going to say, are out since they have only 3 games left and are 3 points behind the Flyers who are in 8th. The Rangers and Flyers play a home and home to close the season, so whoever wins that will get the 8th place spot. As much as I would like to see the Rangers not make the playoffs so they can get a better pick since they’re just going to lose in the first round anyway, I get the feeling that they are going to pull of another late season run to sneak into the playoffs.
The Western Conference picture is much more clear. There is only one possibility of change in the 8th playoff spot. The Avalanche at this point have a 2 point advantage in the standings of the Flames with a game in hand for 8th place. I’m fairly confident that they will be able to hold off the Flames, even though the ‘Lanche have been dropping a lot of games lately.
Once the seeding has been all hammered out, I will do a playoff preview and give you my picks for the Stanley Cup. Should be a fun week to watch some hockey.

-THE-A-TRAIN-