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West update: Avs creep on Blues, Stars add to wild card lead

Colorado Avalanche v Edmonton Oilers

EDMONTON, AB - APRIL 8: (L to R) Paul Stastny #26, Gabriel Landeskog #92, and Tyson Barrie #4 of the Colorado Avalanche celebrate Paul Stastny’s goal against Ben Scrivens #30 of the Edmonton Oilers during an NHL game at Rexall Place on April 8, 2014 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images)

Derek Leung

For some time, it seemed like the Eastern Conference’s playoff races and seeding battles would be the most interesting as the 2013-14 regular season came to a close. As it turns out, this final week might be far juicier out West.

Let’s take a tour through an increasingly interesting situation in the competitive conference.


  • To begin, we’ll go with teams fighting for their playoff lives (rather than musical chairs for division/conference supremacy).
  • The Dallas Stars managed to take a shootout win against the Nashville Predators, eliminating the Preds from the postseason race in the process. The Stars slightly strengthened their hold on the West’s final wild card spot ...
  • ... Because the Phoenix Coyotes could only manage a point against the Columbus Blue Jackets, ultimately surrendering in overtime on Tuesday. Phoenix isn’t totally collapsing as much as the Coyotes seem to be running out of gas; they’ve lost five games in a row but earned three points during that span.
  • Interestingly, the two teams will face the squads they rooted for tonight. Dallas takes on Columbus (and will trail the Blue Jackets 1-0 off the bat) in a game that was postponed to Wednesday. Meanwhile, Phoenix faces the Predators in Nashville on Thursday.
  • The Minnesota Wild went from clinching a spot in general to securing the top wild card spot by winning against the Boston Bruins in a shootout. Ilya Bryzgalov is on fire right now.
  • It’s not just the final West spots that are up for grabs in interesting ways thanks to the St. Louis Blues’ first three-game losing streak of the season.
  • The Colorado Avalanche’s win against the Edmonton Oilers leaves them only two points behind St. Louis for the Central Division crown (Blues 111, Colorado 109) and possibly the Western Conference’s top seed (idle Anaheim is at 110 points). All three teams have three games remaining this season, with Sunday’s season finale between the Ducks and the Avalanche suddenly holding even more interesting implications (at least potentially).
  • The idle San Jose Sharks aren’t out of the Pacific race, either. Ponder this: the runner-up in the Central race would face Chicago in the first round while the Pacific’s second-place team nets Los Angeles in an opening series. Yup, that’s plenty of motivation to finish strong.
  • (Especially if the top wild card team Minnesota stays as hot as they’ve been.)

That’s a lot of information to disseminate, so if you just want to do the math for yourself, here’s a look at the updated standings:

westapril8

James OBrien

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