The Icing On The Week: Teams Start Punching Post-Season Tickets
It was mentioned in last week’s Icing on the Week that Pittsburgh had met their minimum target of qualifying for the post-season and will be joined by Chicago in the West. With teams having just six or seven games left of the regular season the play-off picture should start to come together on a near nightly basis and last week saw Anaheim, at the third time of asking, confirm their participation past April 27th along with Montreal.
It is presumably only a matter of time before Boston, who have a twelve point cushion over ninth placed Winnipeg Jets and Toronto with a seven point margin confirm their spots too. Over in the West Vancouver should do what they do, qualify for the play-offs before bombing. And the LA Kings, after a slow start and a newly chippy Twitter overlord in charge of their output, seem to also be there barring a dramatic slump. They have nine and six point leads over eleventh placed Phoenix.
What is notable is the teams that have not yet gained, or at least, put themselves in a more assured position of making the Stanley Cup play-offs.
In the East Philadelphia are more than likely getting in touch with some of Jean-Sébastien Giguère’s team-mates to tag along on their Vegas trip whilst the Florida Panthers have followed last season’s Quarter-Final exit and Division winning season by sitting rock-bottom of the East and the league overall. Maybe Hartnell, Simmonds, Giroux & co. could get some sun there too?
The New York Rangers have upped their game since the deadline concluded and now sit in that ever precarious eighth spot. They are on a two game win streak and overcame state rivals the Islanders on Saturday night thanks to a Dan Girardi Overtime winner 3:11 into the add-on. That backed up a Shootout win against the Maple Leafs Wednesday after a 3-4 reverse against the Leafs in Canada last Monday.
That run since the roster changes has put them one point within the Islanders and two away from the Ottawa Senators who, since conspiring to lose against Florida and Tampa Bay Lightning last Sunday and Tuesday have overcome the Flyers 3-1 & New Jersey Devils 2-0, both results on the road. Rumours abound that Erik Karlsson is edging nearer to a comeback from his partially cut Achilles sustained in the play below which would provide a great fillip to the team.
It appears only Winnepeg Jets or Buffalo Sabres can challenge the Rangers for that eighth spot now with Jets boosting their win-loss ratio with an ongoing run of three straight Ws. That has them at 5-5-0 in their last ten and with feasible wins against the Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes and the Isles in their three upcoming home-ice games this week their trip to Buffalo Sabres next Monday could be the deciding game as to whether they make the post-season.
The Sabres lost to the Jets last Tuesday in a 4-1 result before a 5-1 defeat to the Habs forty eight hours later. They had a more successful weekend with wins against the Flyers 1-0 and Lightning 3-1 but their upcoming games this week will see them face-off against Boston, the Rangers and the Pens. It is possible but I’d say the race for the Eastern post-season is more than likely between the Jets and those occupying eighth and above.
Over in the West, the conference that has won ten of the last sixteen Stanley Cups, it is, as ever, a bun-fight. As stated Chicago, Anaheim, Vancouver and LA have either sealed their spot or will do so imminently but from fifth down to eleventh there are only six points difference.
Dallas Stars, in ninth, are the form team in the chase with a five game win streak seeing them just two points behind Detroit Red Wings one place above. That run of form has the Stars level on points with the impressive Columbus Blue Jackets who still have something to play for late in the season for the first time in a while.
They defeated San Jose 4-0 and St Lois 4-1 on Tuesday and Friday in the week past before securing a shootout victory over the Minnesota Wild Saturday to see a 6-3-1 record in their last ten and a positive win-loss ratio of 19-16 overall.
But the problem for the Blue Jackets with or without Marian Gaborik was always going to be their run-in. Their game tonight (15th April) is against the Avalanche before they have a road trip which calls at Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose and Dallas before rounding out the season at home to Nashville Predators. Those games against San Jose and Dallas are proverbial four point games but at this stage of the season that run of games would be expected to be too much for the Blue Jackets.
The Stars don’t have a much better run in seeing them try to back up this past week’s wins over the Kings, Predators and Sharks. They visit Chicago tonight before lining up against the Blues, Kings and Sharks on the road after Thursday’s home encounter versus the Canucks. Their absence from the post season stretches back from the 2008-2009 season and they will have to continue their strong run if that absence is to be snapped.
The team most are keeping an eye on is the Red Wings. There are no dynasties in the NHL now the wage cap era is taking hold and one team that is finding that out is the Wings. Since 1991 they have been involved in every single play-off – the longest streak in North American Sport – but with the loss of Nick Lidstrom this year there is a void in that roster that Henrik Zetterberg as captain cannot fill amd Danny DeKeyser coming straight of college hockey and into defence certainly cannot.
That streak and the experience it has given the players on the roster will more than likely see them grind out the season and clinch another play-off shot. They have a favourable run in compared to Dallas and Columbus and that will help just as much too. Last week saw them lose to San Jose and Chicago 3-2 in Shootouts before last night’s 3-0 victory over Nashville hauled them back into eighth. They will be hoping for at least three points this week from their trips to Calgary and Vancouver before their three game home stint week next.
All of these teams in with a shout will be grateful if they manage to sneak home. This shortened season has allowed teams to go all-out for the entirety of the season and therefore some less likely contenders have emerged. Whilst the likes of the Rangers and Red Wings are expected to play beyond the regular season the likelihood of the Flyers, Lightning and Devils missing out is testament to how on a knife edge this year has been. If it was not for Alex Ovechkin’s 2007-2010-like form over the past month the Caps may be another team that also failed to live up to the mark.
NHL & NHLPA Announce Partnership with You Can Play
Amidst the aftermath of the trade deadline and its ramifications, whether positive or negative, and whilst the teams who, unlike, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Anaheim and Montreal have not qualified for the post season as yet, there was a groundbreaking announcement from the NHL and NHLPA that did not equate to a multi-month hiatus for the league. This week the two organisations announced a partnership with the You Can Play project to promote “equality, respect and safety for all athletes, without regard to sexual orientation”.
There is always debate around whether or not “coming out” would be in the player’s own interests in relation to how other players would react. All the players asked said the right things but until the situation arises where a player is openly gay we will not know how they are treated and what the players truly feel. That is most likely the biggest fear for the numerous people in and around hockey that have to hide their secret. The fear of the unknown.
Sean Avery, he of numerous idiotic instances, stated in the near past that any player coming through the ranks of hockey that wanted to come out could contact him via the NHLPA: “I’ll stand beside him in the dressing room while he tells his team-mates he is gay. Maybe if Sean Avery is there, they would have less of a problem with it.”
Say what you like about Avery but he is one of the few across all sports that have had the fortitude to state what he feels without worrying about whether or not those opinions are in line with his sport’s current “societal views”. Whether other players use what he said against him is something that has not been discussed and his current participation in the AHL may mean that the exposure, if it does happen, would be easier to bury. If more players took a lead from Avery and spoke about issues without a mic’ presented due to project announcements those players who fear any possible repercussions may feel a little easier about being more open.
