The Wildcard has sped up quite a bit…and most teams in the running are in danger of crashing out.
It’s a monday in the middle of March and do you know where your 2nd Wildcard team is?
Because I sure don’t. Not at this point anyway.
The Wildcard race spent the entire week spinning out into ditches and crashing and burning; leaving the Washington Capitals as a team not of destiny, but rather of circumstance. Will it hold? Hard to say.
Let’s check in with the prospective postseason opponents. For added fun, read that last sentence in a Daffy Duck impression. Do it out loud at work if you’re really willing to ostracize co-workers!
Most likely to face
Still Toronto…AGAIN. – 89 pts.
I’ve already made my point about the Toronto Maple Leafs organization/franchise/fanbase so I won’t repeat it here. Unfortunately due to Boston’s goalscoring being a bit behind Florida’s, the B’s stand primed to face the Blue and White of Ontario again. Now, if the Bruins end up pasting the cats on Tuesday, we’re not having this conversation.
That said, Toronto’s upcoming week isn’t exactly full of winners; New Jersey’s struggling as per usual, Buffalo has decided it was bowing out of contention for good, and Washington? Well…Washington might just back their way into the playoffs anyway so maybe they force Toronto into one of the worst games ever played by human beings, but still; not a tough matchup to be found until April Fool’s Day when they face a flagging Panthers. As much as ducking the Leafs would be fun…I genuinely want that market to suffer so by all means, Cats; drop a train on them.
Comfortably avoided for right now
Tampa Bay Lightning – 85 pts.
Look, there’s a GREAT chance the B’s first round opponent wears some kind of Blue and White Sweater, and we’re just gonna have to get used to that.
But still, it appears the Lightning’s issues have truly and well been alleviated coming into this week; having beaten the Sharks, Knights, Ducks, and nabbing a point against the Kings. They also get a nice couple of days off while they wait for Boston to make their way to Tampa. Really, if there’s any consolation; Boston gets an extra game this week, and if they win on Wednesday night, it will be a critical two points stolen from them.
Front Runners for the Wildcard
Washington – 79 pts, CURRENT HOLDER OF 2nd WILDCARD
This team may fall back-asswards into being a playoff team. I do not know how they managed to do that.
…Okay, it’s mostly Charlie Lindgren and the rest of the teams behind them getting into a 32 car pileup of a record, but still!
The Caps are…uh…well…they’re not awful, they can even be pretty impressive if you give their young talent some room to maneuver. But they’re still real goddamn old and you can see it in the way they do everything. Oh, and they’re without Tom Wilson for the next couple games. Have fun with that.
No seriously. Have fun, he’s been garbage this year.
The Caps are in a strange position where they could sap points from a bunch of Atlantic teams; most notably the Red Wings who they need to get separation from. Otherwise, it’s Boston and Toronto for this week, and any wins they can get on either of them would be much appreciated by the Maryland/DC/North Virginia area.
Detroit – 78 pts.
Good news, Wings! You beat the Islanders on Thursday and denied them crucial points!
Bad news, you lost to the Preds in a 1-0 game and now have to wait until Tuesday to play again to keep the momentum going. You also need to beat Washington, the team directly ahead of you in order to get back into the swing of things on said Tuesday. Then go play the Canes and Panthers.
Good luck! You’re probably going to need that win on Tuesday!
Longshots
New York Islanders – 75 pts.
Hey let’s check in on the Islanders!
Jesus pic.twitter.com/tqSSEo5mQm
— Rob Taub (@RTaub_) March 24, 2024
Spectacular.
Yeah, Sunday night wasn’t kind to the Isle, and they don’t have a terribly conducive-to-success kind of schedule ahead of them: Philly wants to get their act together to avoid being on this column, Tampa wants to crawl into the third spot in the Atlantic, and the Panthers want to stop trading blows with Boston and right their ship after a pretty pedestrian last 10 games. They’re going to have to Islanders Hockey the hell out of their upcoming week to get ahead of this.
New Jersey Devils – 74 pts.
As you no doubt saw, the Devils got a pretty convincing performance out of beating the Islanders. Unfortunately, it might be too late.
The Devils were previously holding on to a pretty strong neck-and-neck run with the Isle but they’ve started to do some really dumb things like losing to the Senators on their improving record, but they don’t have a terribly difficult record this week; Toronto hurts, but you can beat Buffalo and Pittsburgh, surely? You’re not gonna forget you have some of the most talented players in the world again, right?
Right?
Thanks for Playing
Buffalo – 71 pts.
The very minute people started believing in you, you collapsed.
Why are you the way you are, Sabres.
Worst part of this whole thing is that the Sabres have a chance to maybe become a longshot, but they just have to beat the teams that are struggling; The Sens and Devils have been hard up for wins, and yeah you do need to play Toronto but they’ve played them well before. Hell, they’ve done it this year.
What do you wanna be, Sabres?
Next week, we get closer to playoff eliminations! Fun times!