And now for something completely different.
With one playoff series locked (Minnesota will play Winnipeg) and none that can be secured Friday night, this figures to be a busy and important weekend in the NHL.
Every other series could be decided Saturday night, and the Boston-Florida game on Sunday could still hold some meaning. But even when that’s done there’s a chance one playoff spot will still need to be determined.
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The Philadelphia Flyers currently hold the second wild card spot, the only place left to clinch in the Eastern Conference. They are four points up on the Florida Panthers with one game left against the New York Rangers — all the Flyers need is one point and they’re in.
Florida, on the other hand, needs some luck. They need for both Philadelphia to lose in regulation and to win their own final two games: Saturday versus Buffalo and Sunday at Boston.
If the two teams end up tied in standings points, the first tiebreaker is ROW – regulation and overtime wins. Currently, the two teams are even there at 39 apiece.
The next tiebreaker is points in their season series. Since they played each other three times and one team had an extra home date, the first of those would be excluded. Because of that, the season series for tie-breaking purposes would be 1-1.
The third tie-breaker would be goal differential on the season. The Flyers are plus-3 heading into the weekend and the Panthers are minus-1.
So while the Flyers have the inside track, we face a scenario where not only would the Panthers and Flyers be tied in standings points, but also in each of the tiebreakers after 82 games.
There is only one possible way this can happen: the Flyers need to lose to the Rangers in regulation by two goals and the Panthers need to win both of their last two games in a shootout. Any other conclusion and we’d have a clinched playoff spot either way.
So what would happen if this is how the weekend plays out? The NHL announced that the two teams would have to play a tie-breaking game on Tuesday, April 10.
• An equally weighted draw will be conducted by the League – promptly upon the conclusion of the last game of the regular season on Sunday – to determine home-ice advantage for the game.
• Should the score of that game be tied at the end of regulation, overtime will be conducted under the rules that are in effect for the Stanley Cup Playoffs (i.e., five-on-five skaters, sudden-death, 20-minute periods until a winner is determined).
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