Written by Scott on Wednesday, April 5th, 2023
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It was a busy night last with 11 games.
The Panthers beat the Sabres 2-1 and the Devils beat the Penguins 5-1. The Panthers are back in the wild card with the win at 87 points which is one more than the Pens.
The Canes beat the Sens 3-2 in overtime and the point gained in the loss kept the Sens slim playoff hopes alive. The Red Wings beat the Canadiens 5-0 to keep them still in the picture, but at 79 points and the Caps at 77 and eliminated its almost over for them.
The Leafs beat the Jackets 4-2 and they now have a 6 point lead over the 3rd place Lightning with only a handful of games left. The Hawks beat the Flames 4-3 for the 3rd time in a row and swept the season series.
Another slow night with only 3 games. Tomorrow there is 14.
Lightning vs Rangers
This will be a good game.
Both are in 3rd in their respective divisions and will be there no matter the outcome of this game.
The Lightnings road record hasn’t been the greatest with them going 18-19-1. The Rangers home record has been good going 22-12-4.
The Lightning are ranked 7th in GPG and 14th in GAPG. The Rangers are 12th in GPG and 16th in GAPG.
They have played twice with both winning once.
Flames vs Jets
Flames in desperation mode so they will be going all out here. They played last night and lost but have went 6-3-1 over last 10 and with only 4 games left they can’t afford another loss.
The Jets are in the final wild card spot with 89 points, the Flames are in 9th with 87. To say this is a big game for both teams would be a huge understatement.
They have played twice this season with both teams winning once by 3-2 scores. If that’s any indication then this should be a close game.
With 2 crucial points on the line I’ll happily skip this game.
Oilers vs Ducks
The Oilers can still win the Pacific Divison but to do that they need to win games like this against teams in the basement.
The Ducks have lost 8 in a row. They just played the Oilers on Saturday and lost 6-0.
Would have to take the Oilers -1.5 which shouldn’t be a problem it’s just with them on the road it could be hard for them to cover. They have won the last 4 games they played but the 3 before that went to overtime.
No bets yet. I might eventually bet a nickel on the Oilers to win on the puckline, but red flags are on that. Oilers are on a back-to-back, on the road, late in the season. They must prioritize playoff health and readiness over regular season fatigue and injuries, regarding the short remaining schedule. I can’t see clearly what they’ll intend tonight. The Ducks?
Neither Tampa or the Rangers can change their playoff race position, this game means zilch. No idea, no bet.
Flames are seriously dysfunctional on offence, full of HUGE holes in goal with Markstrom, and the Jets know they can almost certainly secure a Wild Card spot with a regulation time win tonight and then one more win after that. The remaining forward talents with the Flames who try to play the game correctly (Toffoli, Hanafin, Duehr, Dube, Mangiapane, Lucic), plus a few rushing defensemen, can supply goals. No idea what happens, but a Jets victory is likely. Jets are rested and at home, Flames on a back-to-back and playing horribly.