Final weekend for the regular season.
In the Eastern Conference my NY Rangers are on the outside looking in. The Carolina Hurricanes can determine their own fate as well as the of the Rangers. Regardless of what the Rangers do this afternoon versus rival NJ (who has nothing to lose), if Carolina wins tonight versus a tough Tampa team they are in. Carolina owns the tie breaker, so the Rangers need a win with Carolina loss (or OTL), or an OTL with a regulation loss for Carolina to gain a point ahead of them. Even if the Rangers make it in, they may not last long without leader Ryan Callahan. Either way a disappointing season that will be determined with the last game (again). Ugh.
In the Western Conference, Dallas is on the outside looking in. If they fail to make the playoffs not moving Brad Richards before the deadline is going to hurt them if he leaves as a free agent and they got nothing in return. Either way, Chicago has two points on the Stars. Chicago plays against Detroit and Dallas versus a MInnesota Wild team that has nothing to lose.
So in both conferences we have non-playoff teams who can play spoiler, and the two #8 teams with tough matches against fierce rivals.
In the Eastern Conference my NY Rangers are on the outside looking in. The Carolina Hurricanes can determine their own fate as well as the of the Rangers. Regardless of what the Rangers do this afternoon versus rival NJ (who has nothing to lose), if Carolina wins tonight versus a tough Tampa team they are in. Carolina owns the tie breaker, so the Rangers need a win with Carolina loss (or OTL), or an OTL with a regulation loss for Carolina to gain a point ahead of them. Even if the Rangers make it in, they may not last long without leader Ryan Callahan. Either way a disappointing season that will be determined with the last game (again). Ugh.
In the Western Conference, Dallas is on the outside looking in. If they fail to make the playoffs not moving Brad Richards before the deadline is going to hurt them if he leaves as a free agent and they got nothing in return. Either way, Chicago has two points on the Stars. Chicago plays against Detroit and Dallas versus a MInnesota Wild team that has nothing to lose.
So in both conferences we have non-playoff teams who can play spoiler, and the two #8 teams with tough matches against fierce rivals.
