We are down to the last two weeks of the NHL’s regular season. While the Washington Capitals are on the verge of clinching the President’s trophy, several teams could finish in last place, thus earning the right to pick no worse than fourth in the upcoming draft.
Entering Saturday’s action, there are seven teams who are within five points of last. The Toronto Maple Leafs are at 65 points, while both the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks have 67 points. Columbus, Calgary, and Winnipeg each have 68 points, while Buffalo comes in with 72 points.
With so precious few games left, each game matters in the standings. We will tell you which games will go the farthest towards deciding how the bottom of the standings will look. It starts on Saturday afternoon.
March 26-April 1
Saturday March 26th
Boston at Toronto 7:00pm
Columbus at Nashville 8:00pm
Edmonton at Los Angeles 10:00pm
Chicago at Calgary 10:00pm
Sunday March 27th
Chicago at Vancouver 8:00pm
Monday March 28th
Winnipeg at Philadelphia 7:00pm
Columbus at Washington 7:00pm
Buffalo at Detroit 7:30pm
Toronto at Tampa Bay 7:30pm
Anaheim at Edmonton 9:00pm
Calgary at Arizona 10:00pm
Tuesday March 29th
Buffalo at Pittsburgh 7:00pm
Toronto at Florida 7:30pm
San Jose at Vancouver 10:00pm
Wednesday March 30th
Ottawa at Winnipeg 7:30pm
Calgary at Anaheim 10:00pm
Thursday March 31st
Toronto at Buffalo 7:00pm
Columbus at NY Islanders 7:00pm
Calgary at Los Angeles 10:30pm
Vancouver at San Jose 10:30pm
Friday April 1st
Chicago at Winnipeg 8:00pm
Vancouver at Anaheim 10:00pm
What To Watch For
Calgary and Vancouver each have a murderer’s row schedule this week, with both teams having a heavy dose of playing California teams. At this time next week, they could occupy the bottom two spots in the league if they can’t win. The Oilers have two games against California teams, tonight against Los Angeles and Monday vs. Anaheim.
The Leafs have to play the Florida stretch before a game against Buffalo on Thursday. Columbus has a rough stretch this week at Nashville, at Washington, and at NY Islanders. The Blue Jackets sit just 3 points out of last and could very easily lose these games.
April 2-April 9
Saturday April 2nd
Detroit at Toronto 7:00pm
Buffalo at NY Rangers 7:00pm
Columbus at Carolina 7:00pm
Calgary at Edmonton 10:00pm
Sunday April 3rd
Minnesota at Winnipeg 8:00pm
Monday April 4th
NY Rangers at Columbus 7:00pm
Florida at Toronto 7:30pm
Los Angeles at Vancouver 10:00pm
Tuesday April 5th
Buffalo at New Jersey 7:00pm
Los Angeles at Calgary 9:00pm
Winnipeg at Anaheim 10:00pm
Wednesday April 6th
Vancouver at Edmonton 7:00pm
Columbus at Toronto 7:00pm
Thursday April 7th
Toronto at Philadelphia 7:00pm
Vancouver at Calgary 9:00pm
Winnipeg at San Jose 10:30pm
Friday April 8th
Columbus at Buffalo 7:00pm
Saturday April 9th
Calgary at Minnesota 7:00pm
Toronto at New Jersey 7:00pm
Chicago at Columbus 7:00pm
Buffalo at NY Islanders 7:30pm
Edmonton at Vancouver 10:00pm
Winnipeg at Los Angeles 10:30pm
What To Watch For
There’s so much potential in this last week. There’s a good number of head-to-head games that will decide how this all plays out. The battle of Alberta on Hockey Night in Canada is huge. Can’t imagine one team wanting the other team to get the top pick. Wednesday night has two games of importance, with Canucks/Oilers and Blue Jackets/Maple Leafs playing at the same time. Calgary/Vancouver finish with a pair against each other, while the Jets play in California the last three games.
The race for last is wide open. The Maple Leafs control their own destiny if they lose out. If not, Edmonton has played the most games as of this writing, and have the lowest points percentage of anyone. Happy tanking and may the odds ever be in your favor.
Want to see the up-to-the-minute NHL standings? Click here.