Around the NHL: 2021-22 Who makes the playoffs??? (Not Vegas, that's who)

[Der Jaeger]

Nashville still has the third hardest remaining schedule. Still have to play Tampa, Colorado, Minnesota, and Calgary again, and a gimmie against Arizona.

Vegas has St. Louis, Washington, and Dallas, with gimmies against Chicago and San Jose.

Dallas has Calgary, Edmonton, and a huge game against Vegas, to go with games against Arizona, Seattle, and Anaheim.

Edmonton has Pittsburgh, Colorado, and Dallas for tough games, as well as Columbus, Vancouver, and San Jose.

LA has has the easiest remaining schedule: Vancouver, Seattle, Anaheim, and Chicago.
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Wargaming it out:

- Nashville goes 1-3 to the hard teams and beats Arizona, to finish with 97 points.
- Dallas goes 1-2 in the hard games, including losing to Vegas, and 2-1 in their easier games, to finish with 97 points.
- LA goes 3-1 and finishes with 98 points.
- Edmonton goes 1-2 in their tougher games but 2-1 against the easier teams and finishes with 100 points.

All of those are pretty realistic results.

That'd mean Vegas, currently with 87 points, would 10 points just to tie Nashville and Dallas. They need to run the table just to tie, and hope teams stumble against weaker opponents.

Tonight's game against the Caps will be huge. If they lose to Washington tonight, it's a super tough road from there and they'd need a lot of help. If they beat San Jose on Sunday, that'd set up a playoff-environment game against Dallas on Tuesday.

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[GrierIsGod123]

There's so much intrigue over the next week or so. Dallas has a tough back-to-back coming up against Edmonton tonight and Calgary tomorrow. That could be huge in all of this. Really need Vegas to lose to the Caps tonight to really make their odds go down. The swing could be huge if they win and Dallas loses the next two. The two teams play each other next Tuesday, so a lot of the next few days will determine how important that game becomes.

I'm a bit less worried about LA now, as their remaining 4 games are all winnable on paper:

Home vs Chicago tomorrow
Home vs Anaheim on Saturday
@SeA vs Kraken next Wednesday
@Van vs Canucks next Thursday

By my count, they'd need 6 points out of these 4 games to ensure their spot in the Pacific with 98 points (97 is the max that Vegas can finish with). One or two more Vegas losses would really do wonders here.

 

[kirby11]

IMO, if Vegas drops the next 2 in regulation, they're just about done, as at that point, they could only max out at 93 points. To outright beat that number and not have to deal with potential tiebreakers, the other nearby WC teams would need to do the following.

Kings: Currently at 92, secure 2 points in 4 games.
Preds: Currently at 93, secure 1 point in 5 games.
Stars: Currently at 91, secure 3 points in 6 games.

 

[joshjull]

 

[enthusiast]

Is the asterisk intentional there

 

[EichHart]

Montreal going to win #1, draft is in Montreal. Bookmark this post.

 

[brian_griffin]

 

[Jim Bob]

Examining the heavy hockey trend and whether it's the only path to a Stanley Cup

An in-depth look at how player playoff performance changes based on their relative size and physicality.

theathletic.com

This was an interesting article.

 

[Ace]

 

[sabres4ever]

Late game for VGK/WAS, but Dallas playing earlier and winning will be a good thing. Up 6 on VGK if they win

 

[Chainshot]

Late game for VGK/WAS, but Dallas playing earlier and winning will be a good thing. Up 6 on VGK if they win

Tighten those collars pre-game.

Washington is trying to get clear of the wild-card spot.

Ooooo... Barbaschev just lit up Hall and the Bruins aren't happy. I had just said something to my GF (and the dog who is asleep on me) that I wished someone would light him up.

 

[Chainshot]

Oilers up 2-0 and outshooting the Stars 12-3 about halfway through the first period.

 

[Chainshot]

Jason Robertson shooting rockets and it's 2-1.

 

[Ace]

That was a “lucky to be down 1“ period right there

 

[Chainshot]

That was a “lucky to be down 1“ period right there

I'm torn on this game with seeing both Jamie Benn and Evander Kane collide and both get up.

 

[Ace]

Tie game!

 

[Chainshot]

Hintz is a treat.

 

[Ralonzo]

That was a greasy one.

 

[RecycledEichel]

Oilers on pace for 60 shots in this one

 

[Chainshot]

Jamie Benn is such a POS. I've mocked the adulation of Dylan Larkin by the old NBCS guys, but he's still not answered for that. Benn likes targeting skill guys, younger players, usually smaller than him. Seeing Luke Schenn light him up made my night.

 

[Ace]

That’s bad commentary. Apollo Creed was not concerned that Rocky was a lefty. his trainer Duke was. Creed was dismissive of it.

 

[Ralonzo]

Sigh, Buster scores for 3-2 Oilers lead.

 

[Chainshot]

Deflected and off the post, Oilers 4-2.

And Vegas-Washington is underway.

 

[EichHart]

Oilers are fighting for playoffs too. Didn't expect Stars to win this one.

 

[Chainshot]

Wilson throwing himself around at the Vegas defense.