The Western conference playoff race is going to be really interesting the rest of the way. There are 4 teams that are pretty well locked in- Preds, Jets, Knights and Wild.
That leaves 4 spots and 7 teams fighting for those spots. And right now 5 points separates those 7 teams:
San Jose 83
Dallas 82
LA 81
Colorado 80
Anaheim 80
St Louis 79
Calgary 78
There are two battles- one for 2nd and 3rd place in the Pacific and one for the wild card spots.
Some thoughts:
St Louis looked completely dead but they inexplicably had back to back wins at LA and Anaheim and are now right back in the race. Just goes to show that it is pretty hard to be out of the playoff race- the Blues lost 9 out of 10 games and yet still sit here just one point out of playoffs.
I thought for certain Anaheim was going to finish in top 3 in the Pacific but they have now lost 3 in a row and are currently out of the playoffs and have only 12 games left.
I also thought the Avs would have dropped out by now but they continue to win and are currently the #2 wild card.
Dallas is currently WC1 but they are trending in the wrong direction and could be in trouble..
We are likely not going to have any idea who we will face in round 1 until the final day or two of the season.
Will be fascinating to see what happens………