Who Will Make It: West

Recently in my nightly preview posts, I've gotten into the habit of predicting a winner for each of the games. Now, I'm not generally one for prognostication, but with the tight schedule and even tighter standings as the playoff races approach their final week, I thought I would give it a try and predict each of the remaining games for each contending team to see how they finish up. First up: The West, listed in predicted order of finish, including games remaining and record in those games.

6th: St. Louis Blues (6 games, 4-2 for 58pts) - The Blues have a few games remaining against lesser opponents including Calgary and a home and home against the Avs. There's one tough game against Chicago to close out the season, but other than that it looks like the Blues could make some hay. Under my scenario, the Blues would finish tied with Minnesota at the end of the year in Points, Wins, and ROW wins, so the tiebreak goes to the season series, which St. Louis won 3-0.

7th: Minnesota Wild (5 games, 3-1-1 for 58pts) - I've long said that the Wild were going to fall out of playoff contention, and for a while there it looked like I was right when they won only 2 of 9. But with back to back road wins over Calgary and Edmonton, they've stayed in the race. Of their remaining 5 games, 2 are against the aforementioned Flames and Oilers, while another is against the Avalanche, so they stand a good chance of picking up points in all of those games.

8th: Detroit Red Wings (5 games, 3-1-1 for 54pts) - Honestly, the Wings have not been great the last little while, with only one win in their last 4. But they continue to pick up points, and I see them doing that to close out the season. Of the remaining 5 games in their schedule only Vancouver and LA should pose a challenge to them. Additionally they have a nice 3 game home stand before flying to Dallas to close out the season. Keep an eye on that Stars game, it could be make or break in their season. Because....

9th Columbus Blue Jackets (4 games, 2-1-1 for 54pts) By my calculations, the Jackets would end up tied with the Red Wings. There's no need to go into the superlative play by the Jackets of late, they've put up a hard push to make the playoffs for only the second time in their history. However, despite currently sitting in 8th, all the teams they are racing with have a game in hand on them. They still need to finish a road trip that includes tough San Jose and LA teams. Should they finish tied with Detroit, as I expect, the tiebreak will go to the Wings because of the ROW. The Jackets are going to need some luck to make it.

10th Dallas Stars (6 games, 3-3 for 51pts) - The Stars currently sit 4 points out of 8th, and despite having games in hand over both Detroit and Columbus, the road ahead may be too difficult for them. They'll play Vancouver first, before going on a 3 game road trip against the Blues, the Kings and the Sharks. It's possible they won't get points in any of those games. They finish up with home games against those same Jackets and Wings, which will be tough, hard fought games that could determine their season. My fear is though, they may be out of it before they even get to those final two games.

So, based on that predicted order of finish, the first round match-ups would look like this:

1. Chicago vs 8. Detroit
2. Anaheim vs 7. Minnesota
3. Vancouver vs 6. St. Louis
4. LA vs 5. Sharks (though these teams may swap 4th and 5th)

Looks like some good hockey! Thanks for reading, I'd love to hear your comments about who you think will make the playoffs! Check back later when I'll predict the Eastern Conference, and also provide my preview of tonight's big matches from around the NHL. Here's your gif, check out this sweet kick save by Andrew Ference!