CRUNCH TIME IN THE NHL
THERE’S A MONTH TO GO AND LOTS TO BE DECIDED.
First things first: no one is catching the Capitals for the Presidents’ Trophy. That race is long over. With 15 games remaining in the NHL regular season, Washington’s 15- point lead on the next- best team in the overall standings means that Alex Ovechkin and Co. should have home- ice advantage all the way to the Stanley Cup final, if they make it that far.
Chicago’s Patrick Kane has a similar stranglehold on the Art Ross Trophy, while his Blackhawks teammate, Artemi Panarin, could eat popcorn up in the press box for the remainder of the season and he would still win the rookie- scoring race.
But with four weeks left in the season, there is still plenty on the line. Philadelphia is chasing Pittsburgh and Detroit for one of the final wild card spots in the East, while Brad Marchand of Boston is among those chasing down Ovechkin for the Rocket Richard Trophy. Even Braden Holtby is chasing time as he tries to become the first goaltender to win 50 games.
As the NHL nears its final stretch, here are the races we are watching:
RACE FOR THE WILD CARDS
This year’s wild- card races are not as wild as they have been in the past. It really comes down to Philadelphia and possibly Carolina in the East and Minnesota in the West. The ninth-place Flyers headed into Friday night’s NHL games three points back of the eighthplace Penguins (with a game in hand) and four points back of the seventh-place Red Wings (with two games in hand). While Detroit and Pittsburgh have struggled lately, Philadelphia has been on a tear with two regulation losses in the last 10 games. Over in the West, the ninth-place Wild — 8-5- 0 since John Torchetti replaced Mike Yeo as head coach — is hot on the heels of the eighth- place Avalanche, whose two- point cushion could shrink now that captain Gabriel Landeskog is serving a three-game suspension.
RACE FOR AUSTON MATTHEWS
The NHL made changes to the draft lottery system, with the first three picks now up for grabs to any team not qualifying for the playoffs. The idea was to prevent teams from tanking, but apparently the memo didn’t go out to any of the Canadian teams.
Heading into Friday night’s NHL games, the last- place Leafs had 55 points, followed by the Jets (59 points), Oilers (61) and Flames (61). They have all been terrible, but Toronto has really gone out of its way to ensure that it will not win many more games, having traded every usable player at the deadline and pulled the plug on any injured player who complains of as little as a sore throat. That said, we all know Edmonton will end up picking first — again.
RACE FOR CALIFORNIA
It was back in November when Anaheim’s Bruce Boudreau topped the list of coaches on the hot seat. At the time, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry had combined for no goals and four assists and Anaheim was 1-7-2. Boudreau somewhere kept his job and somehow the Ducks, who have lost in regulation just once in their last 15 games, have climbed in the standings. Heading into Friday night’s NHL games, Anaheim was one point back of the divisionleading Los Angeles Kings and three points ahead of the San Jose Sharks. Anaheim has the fortune of playing all seven Canadian nonplayoff teams down the stretch, but the April 7 game against the Kings could determine who has home-ice advantage in the post-season.
RACE OF DEATH
We wisely named the Central Division the ‘ Group of Death’ at the start of the season. And so far, it has lived up to the billing. While Winnipeg has taken a nosedive in the standings, Chicago, Dallas and St. Louis, who headed into Friday night’s NHL games separated by only one point, are the top three teams in the Western Conference. Nashville and Colorado own both wild card spots and Minnesota is just two points out of the playoff picture. As Dallas forward Tyler Seguin told Postmedia News back in November, “You can go from first to last with a loss just with how tight it is.”
RACE FOR THE JACK ADAMS
It’s hard to believe, but some reporters were actually calling for Claude Julien’s head after the Bruins lost their first three games by a combined score of 16-7. Now, after steering them to the top of the Atlantic Division, some are wondering if he deserves to be named coach of the year. Before that happens, let’s see if Boston can stay on top. Heading into Friday night’s NHL games, one point separated the Bruins from the Tampa Lightning and Florida Panthers. Boston has gone without a regulation loss in its last six games, but Tampa Bay is 9-1-1 in its last 11 games and has two games in hand. And while Florida has scuffled lately (4-3-3 in its last 10 games), the Panthers have three games remaining against the last- place Leafs and another three against the injuryplagued Montreal Canadiens.
RACE FOR 50 WINS
Braden Holtby is nine wins away from becoming the first goalie to win 50 games. And with three back-to-backs in their remaining 15 games, he should have enough opportunities to get it done. The only question is whether the first-place Capitals play him as much as possible or rest him for what they hope is a very long playoff run? Holtby, who played in 73 games last year, has appeared in 55 games this season. But the Vezina Trophy candidate, who has a .922 save percentage, has faded down the stretch with an 11-3-1 record and a .904 save percentage since the all-star break.
RACE FOR 50 GOALS
While Kane has a 16- point lead on the scoring title — and likely has the Hart Trophy sealed up — the Rocket Richard Trophy is still very much wide open. Alex Ovechkin leads all players with 41 goals, followed by Kane with 38 and Marchand with 34. History would suggest that this is Ovechkin’s title to lose, since the Capitals sniper has won five goal- scoring titles, including the last three. But don’t sleep on Marchand just yet. While Ovechkin has 13 goals in his last 19 games, Marchand has also scored 14 times in his last 20 games.