With five games left to go on the regular season schedule for the Pittsburgh Penguins, things are coming down to the wire and the Penguins are still not certain of their playoff position, let alone whether they are even going to be in the playoffs. While the top three seeds in both the Atlantic and Metropolitan Divisions are pretty much settled (at least as far as which teams are qualified), the Wild Card race looks poised to come down to the last day of the season. Five teams are still in the hunt for the two Wild Card spots, led by the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins, but with the Florida Panthers just one point behind Pittsburgh and Buffalo four points behind but with two games in hand, those two Atlantic teams are not so far out of the running that they couldn’t squeak in at the last minute. (Buffalo plays at Florida tonight, so immense ramifications for both teams in that matchup.)
More important for the Penguins is their remaining schedule as well as the Islanders, which have four games left to play. After a three-game break(!), on Thursday they host the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are already qualified for the playoffs and will be on the second game of a back-to-back. The Islanders’ last three foes then are teams out of the playoff race: hosting Philadelphia on Saturday, at Washington next Monday, then finally the season finale at home against Montreal next Wednesday. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh there’s probably three wins here out of the four games for New York, which would bring the Islanders to 93 points. Because the first tiebreaker is regulation wins, and since New York has four more than the Penguins, if both teams end up at the same number of points it’s very likely that the Islanders will thus be the first Wild Card in the East and face the Metropolitan Division winner, while whoever lands in the second Wild Card seed will face Boston in the first round. Seeing how Pittsburgh couldn’t even take a lead against the Bruins on Saturday, I don’t think that would go well for the Penguins.
The good news is that Pittsburgh has a game in hand over the Islanders. The Penguins have two playoff opponents left in the regular season – tonight at New Jersey, then hosting Minnesota on Thursday – before three games against non-playoff teams: at Detroit on Saturday, hosting Chicago for the final home game of the season on Monday, then at Columbus for the final game of the season next Wednesday. The bad news is that the Penguins have to avoid tying the Islanders in the standings. If New York wins all four of their remaining games, they’ll be at 95 points. With Pittsburgh currently at 86 points, the Penguins would then need to win all five of their remaining games to secure the more-desirable first Wild Card seed. So, Pittsburgh could just do themselves the favor and not lose from this point forward, and let the Islanders make life easier for the Penguins by losing some games. Both of which are a lot to ask at this point, but Pittsburgh did do this to themselves!
2022-2023 PENS.HOCKEY FLEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK
You’ve all been waiting for it. It’s finally here. It’s the Round 3 Chumpionshit Match of P.H FLEAGUE for this season. The “big matchup” this season features last year’s 3rd place finisher, Russ T. Trombone (Andy LePepper) vs. this season’s “Presidik’s Trophy” winner Weiner Milkshake (SSvaGeno.) May the team with the most regular season starters not resting on the bench for the NHL Playoffs, win!
Good friggen luck!