Its looking like the wildcard race in the East is going to be exciting

[red devil]

The Islanders on a 5 game winning streak are now back in the fight for a playoff spot.

 

[swiftwin]

Looks like Tampa has officially entered the wildcard race. They are now basically tied with the Sens in P%.

If Florida isn't careful, they might be the next entrant.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

Toronto trying their best to become the first division winner with negative goal differential

 

[Boud]

Here’s a resume of the playoff race in the Eastern conference:

9 teams that have clear strenghts and clear flaws that just can’t put it together consistently. One day a team goes on a heater, then they go back down to earth. Then the next team does the same, so on so forth. Looking at a 2 week span a team that’s 3rd in the Atlantic could go down to 14th within a span of 6-7 games. 2 weeks from now the Isles could be in a playoff spot, or Pittsburgh could be back in the race. It’s unbelivable the parity in the East. It’s just a bunch of middling teams and pretty much only Washington and Carolina really stand out.

Every other team has had some bigs ups and downs. Even New Jersey and Toronto.

Whoever plays the wildcard teams in the first round will get tough matchups in my opinion. Imagine facing a team that’s played do or die hockey for 4 months.

 

[Dust]

Whoever plays the wildcard teams in the first round will get tough matchups in my opinion. Imagine facing a team that’s played do or die hockey for 4 months.

Except none of them appear to have the killer instinct to take the opportunity and run with it. You're looking at a group of teams that are going to go out in 4 or 5 games in the 1st round.

 

[Boud]

Except none of them appear to have the killer instinct to take the opportunity and run with it. You're looking at a group of teams that are going to go out in 4 or 5 games in the 1st round.

It’ll be interesting to see. All these teams have been real hot and cold so if you get them in a hot streak they’re hard to beat. Ottawa went on a 8-0-1 streak with Ullmark in net before his injury. Montreal won 7 in a row and looked like a playoff team. Tampa looked like world beaters to start the season, same for the Rangers. Detroit had the coach bump.

I think Columbus is the exception here. They win at home and lose on the road consistently.

All this to say… I don’t know if I believe the wildcard teams this year will be easy outs.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Except none of them appear to have the killer instinct to take the opportunity and run with it. You're looking at a group of teams that are going to go out in 4 or 5 games in the 1st round.

What would killer instinct look like? Winning 15 straight? Because that’s the type of stuff needed to run away with it at the moment.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

Except none of them appear to have the killer instinct to take the opportunity and run with it. You're looking at a group of teams that are going to go out in 4 or 5 games in the 1st round.

Really doubt that. Have you seen the Caps, Leafs, Devs and Canes lately? Not exactly the picture of consistency.

Maybe Florida is able to turn it on and win the Atlantic. Could see them overwhelming a WC 4-0 or 4-1 but that’s about it.

 

[Blowfish]

Here’s a resume of the playoff race in the Eastern conference:

9 teams that have clear strenghts and clear flaws that just can’t put it together consistently. One day a team goes on a heater, then they go back down to earth. Then the next team does the same, so on so forth. Looking at a 2 week span a team that’s 3rd in the Atlantic could go down to 14th within a span of 6-7 games. 2 weeks from now the Isles could be in a playoff spot, or Pittsburgh could be back in the race. It’s unbelivable the parity in the East. It’s just a bunch of middling teams and pretty much only Washington and Carolina really stand out.

Every other team has had some bigs ups and downs. Even New Jersey and Toronto.

Whoever plays the wildcard teams in the first round will get tough matchups in my opinion. Imagine facing a team that’s played do or die hockey for 4 months.

Other than the Caps and Canes .... so many teams are in the wild card mix. Each team with serious flaws. As a bruin fan, knowing 1A McAvoy and 1B Lindholm ready to join the D core in the near future provides some hope. Going to be a wild finish.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Here’s a resume of the playoff race in the Eastern conference:

9 teams that have clear strenghts and clear flaws that just can’t put it together consistently. One day a team goes on a heater, then they go back down to earth. Then the next team does the same, so on so forth. Looking at a 2 week span a team that’s 3rd in the Atlantic could go down to 14th within a span of 6-7 games. 2 weeks from now the Isles could be in a playoff spot, or Pittsburgh could be back in the race. It’s unbelivable the parity in the East. It’s just a bunch of middling teams and pretty much only Washington and Carolina really stand out.

Every other team has had some bigs ups and downs. Even New Jersey and Toronto.

Whoever plays the wildcard teams in the first round will get tough matchups in my opinion. Imagine facing a team that’s played do or die hockey for 4 months.

And even Washington is getting historically good goaltending from Thompson and relying on him more than the Jets are relying on Hellebuyck to get wins. It's really only the Hurricanes that are truly great when it comes to systems. But no matter how high the floor is for the Hurricanes, do they have the ceiling for a long playoff run?

 

[Ghost of Murph]

Looks like we're at the crossroads of some of the old guard weakening at the same time the upstarts are getting better. Things certainly haven't sorted out like normal.

 

[CupofOil]

I'd love to see some new blood in the playoffs for a change so seeing the Bruins, Lightning and Rangers losing last night was pleasing to me.

 

[wetcoast]

with the Devils getting slammed with injuries, I could see them added to the fold of teams potentially in Wildcard spot. if CBJ or NYR go on a run before the 4 nations tournament, I think the Devils could potentially lose their 3rd seed of Metro.

They have 62 points in 52 games, that's too big of a lead for that team to miss the playoffs.

 

[wetcoast]

The Islanders on a 5 game winning streak are now back in the fight for a playoff spot.

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Sure but teams have highs and lows and even with this recent high they 4 points out with 5 teams ahead of them and there aren't going to be many nights when 4 teams ahead of them all lose in regulation.

those OTL points are the real advantage teams higher in the standings have over teams like the NYI.