Western Conference playoff race
z - 1. Vancouver - 113 pts
x - 2. San Jose - 99 pts
3. Detroit - 98 pts
4. Phoenix - 96 pts
5. Los Angeles - 94 pts
6. Nashville - 94 pts
7. Anaheim - 93 pts
8. Chicago - 92 pts
9. Calgary - 89 pts
10. Dallas - 87 pts
z - clinched conference title
x - clinched playoff spot
Chicago 4, Columbus 3 (SO)
The Blackhawks started the game looking like a desperate team that knew they needed a win to solidify their playoff chances. They scored a pair of goals in the first six minutes of the first period—but then they seemingly shut it down and allowed the Blue Jackets to climb back into the game. Columbus increased their energy level (and watched the Blackhawks lower theirs) as they took the game for the next 40 minutes of action. But after surrendering the go-ahead goal halfway through the 3rd period, the Blackhawks caught a huge break when Bryan Bickell scored on an extremely stoppable shot from the outside. From there, the Hawks played a strong overtime period and eventually won the game in a shootout.
The win was huge as it kept the Flames three points behind the Blackhawks for the 8th and final playoff spot. Dallas fans had to hate the outcome, as well, as the idle Stars fell 5 points behind the Hawks with only 6 games to play.
Calgary 3, St. Louis 2Leaders have a way of showing up with their best performances when their teams need them the most. Not surprisingly, in a game the Flames desperately needed to keep their dwindling playoff chances alive, Jarome Iginla played on of his best of the season. He dominated on both sides of the rink en route to 2 goal, 1 assist night in a winning effort. It’s a good thing the Flames won as well—Chicago’s come-from-behind win means the Flames needed this win to stay only three points behind the Hawks with three games left in the regular season. Alex Tanguay summed up the Flames battle down the stretch:
“We’re still crossing our fingers. Maybe we do get lucky and something good happens to us. Who knows? As far as we’re concerned we’ve worked so hard . . . we’re going to try to push it to the very end.
“If worse comes to worst, we can say that we’ve accomplished great things since Christmas. We’re certainly frustrated not to have started the year like we’ve played the last half of the season. It is what it is, our situation. We’re hoping that we can just squeeze in.”
The win also marked Daymond Langkow’s return to the ice after missing more than a year.
Colorado 4, Phoenix 3 (SO)
The Coyotes fell behind in the game 2-0 before storming back to score three straight goals. Captain Shane Doan scored the go-ahead goal with 7:37 left in the game. At the time, it just looked like another example of the Avalanche snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. But Friday night would be different.
Ryan O’Reilly scored on the Avs only third period shot with just under 5 minutes left to pull even. After a scoreless overtime, O’Reilly proceeded to put his finishing touches on the game as he was the only man to score in the shootout. The win was Peter Budaj’s 100th of his career and was only the third win in their last 17 games (all coming via shootout).
With the shootout loss, the Coyotes still picked up a single point in the standings to pad their 4th place position. Phoenix now has a two-point lead on both the Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators with only three games left on their schedule. Surely they would have hoped to earn two points against the lowly Avalanche, but after falling behind by a pair of goals, one point in the standings is better than none.