Wednesday’s been a strong night for teams trying to climb back into the playoff picture.
First, the Philadelphia Flyers dislodged the Boston Bruins for the East’s second wild card spot with a tight win against the New York Rangers.
The Vancouver Canucks followed a similar path, needing to sweat it against the Colorado Avalanche, but now they’re back in the West’s second wild card spot after edging Colorado 3-2.
Let’s take a look at the wild card races in the West:
Blues - 53 points in 48 games played
Canucks - 52 points in 49 GP
Flames - 51 points in 51 GP
Kings - 48 points in 50 GP
Stars - 49 points in 48 GP
Jets - 48 points in 51 GP
Vancouver doesn’t have a huge margin of error, yet that’s still a positive situation, especially for a team that many pegged to be the worst in the NHL at times in 2016-17.
Instead, the Avalanche solidified their place as the sad sack of the West and NHL overall.
To be fair, Colorado’s actually pushed its opponents recently. They did so on Wednesday, erasing a 2-0 deficit. It just wasn’t enough, as Sven Baertschi’s second goal of the night and 13th of the season made the difference.