Many hockey fans will barely bat an eye at the general rule of last night’s games: the West teams with big games came through while the East teams suffered some disappointing defeats. The Philadelphia Flyers, in particular, must feel some serious April Fools Day shame after losing to the New York Islanders in a game that was a lot worse than the 6-4 final score would indicate. First, let’s look at the Eastern Conference standings.
So it seems like the Washington Capitals are the only team in the East that gets it done. They beat the Atlanta Thrashers 2-1 in a tight game in DC last night. Perhaps I should stop writing “interesting trend” type articles because a day after saying that the Sabres are quietly becoming the hottest Eastern Conference team they lost to the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Bruins weren’t able to gain more ground on the Thrashers because they were shutout by the Florida Panthers 1-0 last night. Then again, the Thrashers and Bruins can at least take solace in the fact that the Flyers failed to win against a weak Islanders team.
Ottawa clinched a playoff berth on the strength of of a come-from-behind shootout win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Now, let’s move on to the Western Conference.
The Red Wings continued their hot streak, taking their seventh straight win over the Columbus Blue Jackets while the Predators kept pace with Detroit by winning a challenging game against the St. Louis Blues.
In what was supposed to be the best game of the night, the Los Angeles Kings crushed the Vancouver Canucks 8-3. It’s surprising that Roberto Luongo wasn’t pulled from the game. Should Vancouver be worried about their goalie, who was supposed to be the team’s biggest strength?
There are some big games tonight, with Philadelphia-Montreal and Colorado-Calgary having the most immediate playoff impacts. More on that later today.