With a little more than a month left in the 2013-14 regular season, the jostling for playoff positioning is only heating up, especially in the wide-open East. Here’s a recap of most of the conference’s work from Saturday, with only the Montreal Canadiens still in action (against the San Jose Sharks).
- The Philadelphia Flyers almost added to their total of 11 comebacks from third-period deficits on Saturday, pushing the Toronto Maple Leafs to overtime. Joffrey Lupul gave the Buds a 4-3 OT win, however, leaving Toronto out of the wild card mix (at least as of tonight). Things look a little brighter for the Maple Leafs tonight.
- Both Pekka Rinne and Sergei Bobrovsky were strong in their respective nets tonight, but Bob ended up getting a win as the Columbus Blue Jackets blanked the Nashville Predators 1-0. Artem Anisimov was the game’s only goalscorer.
- The Washington Capitals’ hopes looked dim, yet they scored three goals in a little less than five minutes to beat the Phoenix Coyotes 3-2. Read more about that game here.
- The New Jersey Devils held off a Carolina Hurricanes comeback to win 5-4 thanks to former Canes forward Tuomo Ruutu’s winner.
- The Ottawa Senators enjoyed a nice game from Ales Hemsky to beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-3.
- Above the bubble, the Boston Bruins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in OT. Things have been going well for the B’s lately.
- Again, the Habs are in action, but they’ll remain at least a point ahead of the Maple Leafs even if they lose in regulation tonight.
Here’s a look at the East from a conference standpoint (via NHL.com):
And probably most interestingly, here’s a look from a wild card/divisional perspective (also via NHL.com):