With the shortened NHL regular season coming to an end rather quickly, teams are racing to get any points they can. Whether it be a shootout loss or a win, there has been a struggle for popular teams to make it into the playoffs, but with only a few weeks left, teams are clenching down.
The Pittsburgh Penguins stand at first place of the Eastern conference with 60 points and a record of 30-10-0, the Washington Capitals are in third place in the Eastern Conference while also staying at the top of their division with 42 points and a record of 20-17-2, and the Philadelphia Flyers stand at 12th place in the Eastern conference with 37 points and a record of 17-19-3.
Only the top eight teams make the playoffs for each conference, the Eastern and the Western, and it is not looking too promising for Philly.
The Flyers stand in last place in the Atlantic Division but are one game behind the New Jersey Devils, who are three points ahead of them in the standings. Winning their game against the New York Islanders, followed by a Buffalo Sabers loss against the Winnipeg Jets would have pulled the Flyers into eleventh place in the Eastern conference, only three spots out of the playoffs. However, the Flyers lost their game against the Islanders, and the Sabers won.
Health and physical education teacher Doug Truscott is a Flyers fan and tries to attend a game every season.
“I do not see Philly making the playoffs this year. They are too inconsistent and do not win enough games,” said Truscott.
Pittsburgh is ahead of the pack, but the Montreal Canadians are one game and only three points behind the Penguins, and another win put the Canadians only one point behind Pittsburgh. If the Penguins lose and Montreal gets another win after that, the Canadians will take the Eastern conference lead one point ahead of the Penguins.
Junior Michael Spadafore tries to watch every Pens game on television and is quite the fan.
“The Penguins are doing great, hopefully they get first seed for the Eastern Conference in the playoffs, it will make life easier for them,” said Spadafore.
The Washington Capitals are in first place in the Southeast division, two points ahead of the Winnipeg Jets, and have played one less game than their opponent. The Caps are on a hot streak right now, and have a record of 9-0-1 during the last ten games.
The Capitals do face a harder schedule during their last nine games than the Jets do in their last eight; however, the Caps biggest obstacle is their number of injured players.
Center Brooks Laich missed most of the season due to a groin injury. He came back to play nine games, and has not played a game since April 4 after taking a harsh hit from a New York Islander aggravating his groin injury again.
Sophomore Sarah Schertle is very excited about the way the Caps are stepping up their game.
“Washington is playing really well at just the right time. They are still in the divisional league and are sitting at third place in the playoffs,” said Schertle. “They have been playing really well the second part of the season.”
The last two weeks of the shortened NHL regular season are going to be wild and one loss can drop a team 8 spots if they are not careful.
