Both NHL wild card races are down to three teams with three games a piece

Both the Eastern and Western wild card races are down to three teams. Each of those teams has three games left. Who will grab the eight seeds?

Three teams in the East, three teams in the West, three games left. The NHL’s wild card race is as close as it’s ever been, with the last spot in both the Eastern and Western conferences looking like they could be up for grabs until the final hours of the season.

In the Eastern Conference, the wild card spots are currently held by the Columbus Blue Jackets (as per their mandated playoff wild card position agreement, apparently), the Carolina Hurricanes (bunch of jerks) and the Montreal Canadiens (BOOOO). The Canadiens are a point behind the ‘Canes and two points behind the Jackets. They’ll also have the hardest schedule, facing the Lightning, Capitals and Maple Leafs.

In the Western Conference, the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche are sitting comfortably in the seventh and eighth seeds but the Arizona Coyotes are only two points back of the Avs and they play they’re set to play three opponents with nothing to play for The Golden Knights are locked into their third spot, the Kings just want the season to be over with and the Jets could be locked and resting by the time the two play in the final game of the season on Saturday night. Grab a beer, this is going to be exciting.

Eastern Conference

Columbus is the most likely team to stay locked in a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. They are playing against the Boston Bruins tonight, but see the New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators after that. They could not have asked for a better final two opponents. Rangers fans recently joined in with New Jersey Devils fans in a “We both suck” chant. If Columbus loses that game, they’ll be deserving of this chant as well.

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The dirty, disgusting Habs are on the other end of the spectrum. They see the Lightning, Caps and Maple Leafs to close out the season. With their respective positions clinched, the Leafs and the Lightning could very well sit some of their key players in these games, or at least have them on limited minutes. The Capitals are three points up on the Islanders and could lock their spot at the top of the Metro with a win against the Habs on Thursday before seeing the Islanders on Saturday. The Canadiens will likely miss the playoffs by one point and all of us will be spared from hearing their insufferable fan base go on about Max Domi any longer.

Sitting between these two is the storm surging “bunch of jerks” in Carolina. While the storm surge has been put away for the season, this is still a great, young team that we definitely want to see in a playoff spot. Especially the 8th playoff spot, where they can tire out the Tampa Bay Lightning for (hopefully) at least six games. The Lightning got the better of the ‘Canes in all three meetings of the natural disasters this year, but playoffs are a new season. Anything is possible.

Prediction: The conference will stay as-is. Both Columbus and Carolina will win two of their last three games. The Canadiens will probably win two of three as well, but they’ll still be a point shy. Suck on that.

Western Conference

The NHL’s western conference wild card race is a little less volatile, but still open to three teams. Dallas is pretty much locked into the top spot with 89 points to Colorado’s 86 and Arizona’s 84, but there’s definitely still room for movement between the three. The Dallas Stars see the Flyers, Blackhawks and Wild, who could all look to play spoiler as their seasons come to a close.

The Colorado Avalanche have the toughest remaining schedule out of the three teams, facing off agaainst the always potent Oilers, Jets (fighting for the top seed) then Sharks (trying to stop looking awful). The Oilers and Sharks really don’t have anything to play for, but they are two teams that can turn it on at any moment on any given night. As mentioned above, the Arizona Coyotes will see two of the same kinds of teams and the Jets, who could be shut down and resting by the season’s final game. It’s probably not worth noting that the Wild and Blackhawks are technically not eliminated yet but we will anyway.

Prediction: The Stars will hold onto the top wild card spot. The Avs will falter and lose two of three, leaving the door open for the Coyotes to make things interesting on the final night of the NHL season (It’s more exciting if I predict at least one upset, right?). Everyone in Colorado will be cheering for the Jets, but the ‘Yotes will take the game and the final wild card spot in the West.

All six teams vying for their respective wild card spots play on tonight so the final positions could take shape more after this evening’s games. Regardless of who gets in, we’re all winners for getting some extra playoff action.

Go everyone but Montreal!