There were a lot of changes to the playoff scene yesterday. While it didn’t quite work out perfectly for the Avalanche (they didn’t clinch), but it wasn’t all bad news either.
March 31st
| Rank | Team | GP | W | Pts | DIF | MAXPT | MAXW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | y - Det* | 79 | 52 | 111 | + 73 | 117 | 55 |
| 2 | y - SJ* | 79 | 48 | 106 | + 30 | 112 | 51 |
| 3 | x - Min* | 80 | 43 | 95 | + 4 | 99 | 45 |
| 4 | x - Ana | 80 | 45 | 98 | + 12 | 102 | 47 |
| 5 | x - Dal | 79 | 43 | 93 | + 33 | 99 | 46 |
| 6 | Col | 80 | 42 | 91 | + 9 | 95 | 44 |
| 7 | Cal | 79 | 40 | 90 | - 3 | 96 | 43 |
| 8 | Van | 79 | 39 | 88 | + 7 | 94 | 42 |
| 9 | Nas | 79 | 39 | 87 | + 1 | 93 | 42 |
| 10 | Edm | 80 | 40 | 86 | - 16 | 90 | 42 |
| 11 | Chi | 79 | 38 | 84 | + 1 | 90 | 41 |
Here’s what did happen:
Detroit clinched the #1 overall seed. San Jose will be the #2 seed.Sorry, not sure how this idea popped into my head, as SJ can still end up at #1.
- Anaheim clinched a playoff spot and is assured of either the 4th or 5th seed.
- Dallas clinched a playoff spot.
- The Avalanche moved past Calgary into 6th.
- Vancouver moved past Nashville into 8th.
- Columbus and Phoenix were eliminated.
The seeds are starting to shape up
- Detroit clinches the top seed with 1 point (call it the “Selanne Factor”).
- Minnesota needs just one win to lock up the NW division and the #3 seed.
- Anaheim needs just one win to lock up 4th place.
- Colorado clinches a playoff berth with a win - regulation or OT - against Vancouver on Tuesday. They also need a win (and Minnesota regulation loss) to have any shot at 3rd.
- Calgary clinches a playoff berth with a win - regulation or OT - against Edmonton Tuesday AND a regulation loss by Nashville. They also need a win to stay alive in the hunt for the NW title.
- Edmonton and Chicago both face elimination on Tuesday with a regulation loss IF Vancouver gets at least a point against Colorado.
There are no Western Conference games tonight. So, here’s a breakdown of Tuesday’s games:
Nashville at St Louis (7:30 pm eastern): If the Avs win later on, this game means nothing to us. And, personally, I’d much rather see Nashville in over Vancouver. Since there’s no guarantee of an Avalanche win, though, I’m cheering for St Louis. EDIT: As Selanne points out below, a Nashville regulation loss here puts us in no matter what we do against Vancouver.
Calgary at Edmonton (9pm eastern): No question here: go Edmonton.
Colorado at Vancouver (10pm eastern): Duh. Vancouver is not going to make it easy for us. If Nashville wins earlier in the evening, Vancouver will be playing to get back into the final playoff spot. And if Calgary loses in regulation, the Canucks would move past the Flames into 7th by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker. No matter what, the Canucks will have plenty of motivation to come out fighting against the Avs.
Actually, San Jose can still surpass Detroit. Detroit has 111 pts, but if San Jose wins their remaining 3 games, they will have 112. If Detroit gets even just 1 more point in their remaining 3 games, then they will clinch.
oops, that’s right. I don’t know why I was thinking that Detroit had clinched the top spot.
thanks for double-checking my work. again!
Thanks for outlining this for us….it’s difficult for me to keep track of!
Keep up the good work and go Avs!
The Avs can also clinch a playoff spot by virtue of a Nashville regulation loss. Even if Colorado fails to gain a single point in its remaining games, a regulation loss by Nashville on tuesday would make it so that they could only tie us in points, but we would have more wins.
“thanks for double-checking my work. again!”
I try to figure this stuff out in my head, but I always get confused until you actually put it in writing. You do all the legwork, I make all the snarky comments!
“The Avs can also clinch a playoff spot by virtue of a Nashville regulation loss”
that also is true, but I was trying to keep it from getting too confusing. I should update the Nas @ Stl game info to reflect that better, though.
“You do all the legwork, I make all the snarky comments!”
ha, not snarky at all. I’m glad to have someone check my work.
I’m cheering for Nashville to make it in over the Canucks. at this point if the avs need to rely on 2 teams completely tanking rather than just winning games they don’t deserve the playoffs. And Nashville has a better chance of beating Detroit in a 7 game series than the Canucks.
So go Preds
well, jibs, I think your anti-Vancouver bias has been clearly revealed
Naaahhh I don’t think they are a very good team, but I’m not anti-Canucks, just anti-dumbshit fucktards who write ignorant borderline propaganda.
I got no problem with the Canucks
“just anti-dumbshit fucktards”
So then you are anti-Vancouver?
I kid, I kid
Well I have never been to Vancouver so I can’t speak to the entire population…
Vancouver is a magnificent city with some wonderful people, but I always have, and always will hate their hockey team.