New York. Everything that could possibly happen to tighten up the Western race in the NHL happened last night.
Nashville shook against Boston, Calgary beat the Los Angeles Kings — and Winnipeg surprisingly lost its road game to San Jose.
– We’re already in a playoff mentality, Elias Lindholm explains after the 2-1 win, which means the Flames suddenly have only two points until the last wildcard spot.
Things change quickly in the National Hockey League sometimes.
Almost a week ago, it looked like the Calgary Flames and Nashville Predators were tied up in the battle for the Western Conference playoffs. They had six and eight points straight to the line—in a two-point system, don’t forget—and they didn’t play anything else.
But since then, they’ve slowly but surely made their way in and last night managed to turn the Western race into a real drama.
It counted for the big games at the box office
First, Nashville answered the winter bomb by defeating the Boston Bruins 2-1 on the road — although the Bears had a chance to secure the President’s Trophy, the series-winner’s prize.
– We didn’t give them anything for free and that’s the recipe against the Bruins because they’re killers, says satisfied coach John Haynes.
He could have added that he helped respond to Juuse Saros’ effort of the season in the penalty area, stopping 35 shots. He was the true king of ice.
Calgary, uniquely enough, had three goals disallowed in their must-win game against the Los Angeles Kings at home at the Saddledome, but they also won 2-1, and their goaltender, Jacob Markstrom, shone there as well. He stopped 32 shots and made really sweaty saves.
– Yes, “Markan” stole these two points for us. But we’re all in the accessory mentality,” says Elias Lindholm, who, like Mikael Backlund, has made a goal.
However, the real reward came to both Predators and Flames when they themselves finished playing. Because then, in the final game of the night, the Winnipeg Jets, long standing last in the wild card, were stunned by a 3-0 defeat to fellow Sharktank San Jose.
The jump is alive
This means the Flames have just two points ahead and the Predators three – the latter also with two fewer games to play.
In short: The final weeks of the regular season could be really interesting for all three teams.
By the way, Erik Carlson was noted for another pass in the Sharks game and now he’s up to 91 points.
