Eastern Conference wild-card spot still available
Lots of scoring milestone chases in the homestretch of NHL regular season
With just 10 days remaining in the NHL'S 2023-24 regularseason schedule, the final wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference remains up for grabs.
Entering this week, five teams – the Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres – were jockeying for that last playoff spot.
That lone playoff berth has been up for grabs for several weeks. As of April 7, two points separated the seventhoverall Islanders from the 11th overall Flyers. It's anyone's guess at this point which club will punch their ticket to the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Flyers spent the past three months sitting third in the Metropolitan Division but their struggles down the stretch sent them tumbling in the standings. A recent surge up the standings had the Capitals briefly holding that position until a six-game winless skid knocked them out of it.
Entering March, the Red Wings held the first wildcard spot eight points above the playoff cut line. However, they've only won four of their last 16 as shaky goaltending and sloppy defensive play have them clinging to that berth.
The Penguins and Sabres teetered on the brink of elimination from contention two weeks ago. However, they've managed to string some wins together to keep their postseason hopes alive.
With almost all the other playoff berths locked up, this fight for the final Eastern wildcard could go down to the wire. Given the inconsistency of these five teams, one of them could need a bit of luck to sneak into the 2024 postseason.
SCORING
This season has been among the NHL'S highest-scoring for some time.
Three players – Toronto's Auston Matthews, Florida's Sam Reinhart and Edmonton's Zach Hyman – have already eclipsed the vaunted 50-goal plateau. Six others have between 43 and 48 goals. If they all reach 50, it would be most to do so since 199393 when 14 players achieved that honor.
Matthews, meanwhile, is chasing down a major milestone. This season's leader with 64 goals, he's aiming to become the first player to reach 70 since Teemu Selanne and Alex Mogilny each did it in '92-'93. It would be the fitting finish for Matthews, the only active player with at least two 60-goal seasons on his resume.
Meanwhile, the race for the Art Ross Trophy for the most points had been a twoplayer race between Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov and Colorado's Nathan Mackinnon for most of this season. However, they've been joined by Edmonton Oilers captain Connor Mcdavid, who overcame an unusually slow start to this season to jockey with Kucherov and Mackinnon for the points lead.
Mcdavid has won the Art Ross five times in the last seven seasons. If he manages to upset Kucherov and Mackinnon it would be arguably his greatest single-season scoring feat.
PWHL NOTES
The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) regular season ends on May 5 with the top four teams in the six-team league advancing to the playoffs.
On April 4, the league revealed its championship trophy would be called the Walter Cup. It is named after the Walter family, led by Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter, who is the primary financial backer of the PWHL.
The Cup is approximately 35 pounds, stands two feet tall and is 13 inches wide with a removable base that will include the engraved name of each year's winner.
Meanwhile, the PWHL schedule has been on a break since March 26 as 39 players participate in the 2024 IIHF women's world championship. The tournament began on April 2 in Utica, N.Y., and will conclude with the goldmedal game on April 13.
The notables taking part include Montreal captain Marie-philip Poulin skating for Canada and Boston captain Hilary Knight playing for Team USA. Both players have won multiple medals representing their countries in international play.