New York Rangers
The Washington Capitals (51-26-5) have been the obvious choice as the league’s hottest club down the stretch, and now they will be the #1 seed in the East and owners of the regular season’s most points (107) to capture home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs. The Caps knocked the Rangers from 1st-place when they defeated them 2-1 on April 2 and never looked back. Never mind that Alex Ovechkin (817 finished far down the list in points (77), the team finished 9 positions higher than last year’s 10th-place performance.
Winnipeg had a horrible end to the regular season, finishing 2-6-2 in the last 10 games, but they survived to hold on to the last playoffs spot in the West because the club chasing them, St. Louis Blues, could win only 4 of their last 10 games and filed to climb in the standings. Chicago had a strong finish (6-3-1) but it was too little too late and they finished 2 points behind the Jets.
Philadelphia (44-34-4) capped their disappointing season winning just 4 of their last 10 and failed to to catch the 8th-place Detroit Red Wings, who finished one point ahead with 92 points. The Flyers rose as high as 2nd-place and finished 5 months of the season in a playoff position before sliding to 9th at the end of March.
The Washington Capitals (46-46-4, 96 pts) had one of the strongest finishes to March, going 7-2-1 in their last 10 games played. Over the month, they went 8-5-2 and jockeyed with the Rangers for 1st-place in the East. If not for NYR’s 2-0 win over Buffalo in the final game of the month, the Capitals would have claimed 1st-place outright. Instead, they, and the Rangers, are tied with 6 games remaining for each. Alex Ovechkin is up to 815 career goals and seeks to add more.
The Minnesota Wild (45-24-6, 96 pts) stretched their hold of 1st-place in the West to three straight months but the Vegas Golden Knights will not go away. Vegas closed the gap to three points with each club having 7 games remaining. Anaheim (92 pts) and Colorado (91 pts) are ready to pounce if the Wild slow their pace.
The Columbus Blue Jackets (43-27-5, 91 pts) picked the wrong time to struggle. They won just 5 of 13 games in March and fell from the top perch to 4th-place. Columbus made a three-player trade to Detroit at the Deadline, but it failed to motivate the team. Their top acquisition, D David Perron is a minus-1 in 12 games since joining the Jackets, and D Mark Pysyk has not dressed.
Goalie Carter Hart (2.83 GAA) is having his best season since 2019-20, but the Flyers will need more to regain momentum down the stretch.
The Philadelphia Flyers (38-28-8, 84 pts) crash landed in March after a disastrous 3-8-1 performance, earning just 6 points and falling from 4th-place to 9th. Their offense and defense took a hit with their scoring sliding to 3.16, and their goals allowed rising to 2.72. The club is still capable of making the playoffs with 8 games remaining, but Boston (85 pts), and Detroit (85 pts) will need to stumble.
While all eyes are on the Rangers and Capitals battle for 1st-place in the East, the Detroit Red Wings made a massive jump in the standings, climbing from 13th to 7th in March. The Red Wings collected 24 points thru 12 victories. Can they keep the pace down the stretch?
The Pittsburgh Penguins (36-17-7, 79 pts) have risen steadily in the standings. They finished February winning 9 of their last 10 games and climbed another 2 spots to 2nd-place in the East, just one point behind the Blue Jackets (80 pts). Pittsburgh’s success has been fueled by Sydney Crosby (29 G, 43 A, 78 PTS), who is on track to surpass his stat totals of a season ago, and Evgeni Malkin, who leads the team with 30 goals.
The Tampa Bay Lightning (35-25-1, 71 pts) made a brief appearance in the playoff picture two months ago before falling to 10th place at the end of January. The Lightning turned things around. Led by RW Nikita Kucherov (60 pts), they went 9-3-1 in February and will enter March in 6th-place.
Once a 1st-place team, the Nashville Predators (32-25-2, 66 pts) continued to struggle and fall in the standings. They won only 4 games in February and slipped another 3 spots to 8th-place. Their offensive production and defence both declined — GFPG going from 3.00 to 2.86, and GAPG increasing 23 points to 2.92.
The Columbus Blue Jackets (34-15-3, 71 pts) couldn’t be shaken from their perch as the East’s top club. In fact, they added some distance between themselves and the 2nd-place team (now Washington with 67 pts). The offense continued to be powered by Johnny Gaudreau whose 66 points ties him with Colorado’s Nathan McKinnon, and Pittsburgh’s Sydney Crosby as the league’s top scorers.
Despite a month to forget, the New York Rangers benefited from Carolina and Philadelphia struggling, and only fell one spot to 3rd-place after going 5-7-0 in January. In those seven losses, the Rangers were outscored a combined 24-13 (goals).
The Minnesota Wild (30-16-2, 62 pts) are the hottest team in the NHL after finishing January on a 9-1-0 run. The Wild, who ended November in 12th-place, then climbed to 8th-place in December, went 10-2-0 in January to earn 22 points and climbed 8 spots to tie 4 other clubs for 1st-place in the West. Winger Kirill Kaprizov (46 pts) replaced Mats Zuccarello (44 pts) as the team’s scoring leader, while Marc-Andre Fleury (2.59 GAA) is among the top 5 goalies with the best GAA.
Johnny Gaudreau had a breakout December to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets (25-9-3, 53 pts) to a 1st-place finish in the West after going 10-4-1 in the month. Gaudreau tallied 23 points, scored 14 goals, and assisted on 16. He also leads the team in PPP (12).
The Washington Capitals (24-14-1, 49 pts) visit to the top of the standings was short-lived. They fell to 4th-place after a subpar 7-7-1 month. Their stalled offense is to blame. Washington led the Eastern Conference in scoring (3.71 GFPG) last month, and dropped to 4th (3.38). Nicklaus Backstrom found the back of the net just twice in 15 games, while Alex Ovechkin registered 18 points and leads the club with 41. Ovechkin celebrated his 800th goal and is one behind 2nd-place Gordie Howe and 94 from tying the all-time leader, Wayne Gretzky (894 goals).
The hottest team in the league, Nashville Predators (24-11-2, 50 pts) will take a 10-game winning streak into the new year. They were almost unbeatable in December, going 12-1-1 to elbow past Vegas, Anaheim, and Seattle to take the lead in the West. They were helped by the Dallas Stars’ free fall (4th to 10th). Matt Duchene remained the team leader in points (48), followed by Flip Forseberg (40). (December League Report)
Pittsburgh Penguins (19-10-7, 45 pts) continued their steady climb in the standings. After a 13th-place start, they’ve improved steadily — ending November in 8th, and December in 5th-place. While they still hope to improve on keeping opponents out of the net (3.14 GAPG), the team’s goals per game average jumped 37 points to 3.28. Leading the improved attack is Sydney Crosby who has worked his way to being the league leader in points (51).
Vegas Golden Knights (15-7-2, 32 pts) won 11 of 13 games they played in November and jetted up 11 spots to take over 1st-place in the Western Conference. Goalie Robin Lehner did his part to inspire the team, raising his win total to 13 games and lowering his GAA to 2.58 (ranked 8th). No one player on offense has had a standout performance, but RW Mark Stone leads the Golden Knights in points (22).
The Carolina Hurricanes (16-7-0, 32 pts) ended November as the NHL’s hottest club, winning 9 of their last 10 games. Their success catapulted the team 6 spots to 4th-place. Winger Andrei Svechnikov has been a spark on offense, ranked 4th in the league with 30 points (19 goals, 11 assists). Into his second year as the Hurricanes’ goalie, Frederik Andersen is 10th in the league with a 2.60 GAA.
Minnesota’s visit near the top of the Western Conference was short-lived. After a 2nd-place start, the Wild (10-10-1, 21 pts) free-fell to 12th-place after going 3-7-1 in November. Their offense stalled, and their GAPG rose 55 points to 2.95. Winning only 3 of their last 10 games didn’t help. (November league report)
The Rangers (15-7-3, 15 pts) lead the Eastern Conference with 15 points, but close behind with 14 points are the Washington Capitals, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Buffalo Sabres. New York’s offense grew more lethal as October progressed and lead the NHL in scoring (4.00 GFPG). The clubs in the East who have suffered the slowest starts include the Penguins, Lightning and Red Wings (all with 8 points).
In the West, the Anaheim Ducks are 8-2-0 and lead the conference with 16 points, two points better than the Nashville Predators, and Minnesota Wild. Predator’s keeper Juuse Saros is ranked NHL-3rd with a 2.09 GAA average. The Edmonton Oilers have begun the season with the worse start, wining just two games thus far as they bleed goals against (4.70 GAPG is league worse).
BY THE NUMBERS
