The NHL playoffs will begin in late April and teams are busy trying to make one final push at getting the top seeds in the conference. The Western Conference is merely a fight for second as the Chicago Blackhawks sit comfortably in the top spot, but the Vancouver Canucks are making a final run at the team that ran part of the season on a historic win streak. While the Western Conference looks almost set, the Eastern Conference has several bubble teams fighting for position with the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers highlighting Tuesday matchups.
Roberto Luongo and Ryan Kesler led the Canucks to eliminate the Nashville Predators from playoff contention and sit on top of the Northwest Division. Nashville has made it to the playoffs the last seven of eight seasons, however the sit in fifth place in the Central Division and outside the postseason bubble. Luongo has been the subject of several trade rumors since before the season began, but he is not letting that get in the way of helping the team jockey for the top spot in the Western Conference. Vancouver sits in third with 54 total points, five behind Anaheim and 16 behind the leading Chicago Blackhawks. A conference win seems unlikely, but Vancouver is setting themselves up for a favorable seed.
The Blackhawks continue to do their part to inch closer to clinching the West. The team notched their sixth win in a row on Monday, beating the surging Dallas Stars 5-2. Chicago is the first team to reach 70 points this season. They are six points ahead of the Eastern Conference-leading Pittsburgh Penguins, the presumed favorite for the Stanley Cup. The Blackhawks started the season with points in their first 24 games, setting an NHL record in the process. They appear in the same groove coming down the final stretch of the regular season.
As the conference leaders are all but set, the final games will prove crucial to several bubble teams. The New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers highlight Tuesday's set of games as the Atlantic Division rivals faceoff for a postseason berth. The Rangers have defeated the Flyers in the last 10 of 11 meetings. New York currently sits in the eighth spot with a two point lead on Winnipeg. They cannot afford to drop a game. If Philly is going to make a big comeback, they will have to make up seven points in the final six games that remain.
