Tuesday NHL Pregame Plays 4/16

Nightghost

April 16, 2024
2:19 am

Good Morning Everyone,

More playoff spots were confirmed last night when the Isles beat the Devils 4-1 and the Rangers shutout the Ottawa Senators. The Isles are locked into the number three seed in the Metro making their game against the Penguins meaningless for them. The Rangers locked up the President’s Trophy, the top seed in the East, and the top seed in the Metro setting them up for a first round matchup with the second wild card spot. Boston lost to Washington keeping the division open for the Florida Panthers who take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs are locked into the third spot of the Atlantic making this game meaningless for them other than to prepare for a potential first round matchup with the Panthers. Auston Matthews will look to score his 70th goal of the season if he suits up. Washington held onto the first wild card spot with their win over the Bruins but could go from first to last with a loss to the Philadelphia Flyers tonight. The Detroit Red Wings had an incredible comeback at home against the Montreal Canadiens to win in overtime after falling behind 4-1. The Penguins won as well keeping their hopes alive. Detroit has a rematch tonight against Montreal. Here are the current scenarios to watch out for:

The Pittsburgh Penguins are eliminated with a win by Washington or Detroit.
The Philadelphia Flyers are eliminated with a loss or the game goes to overtime. Philly needs to win in overtime to jump Washington. A regulation win ties them with the Caps in regulation wins (1st tiebreaker), regulation + overtime wins (2nd tie breaker), and moves them ahead of Washington for head to head points (3rd tiebreaker).
Washington clinches the second wild card with a win.
Detroit needs a win and a Washington loss- overtime does not matter to Detroit.
Pittsburgh needs a win on Wednesday vs the New York Islanders, a Washington loss to Philadelphia, and a Detroit loss to Montreal.

So what happens tonight?

Boston wins over Ottawa at home.

Detroit and Montreal go back and forth again in a high scoring game that will see Detroit pull early and often if they find themselves down two or more goals in the third- I hope Detroit loses

Philly beats Washington with the Caps coming off a back to back. Don’t worry about the travel of a road game- this trip is roughly a three hour bus ride- Philly will be a tough grind for the Rangers. If it won’t be Pittsburgh then pull for it being Philly.

Carolina’s lineup matters to this game- they are locked in to a first round series with the Isles and have nothing to play for.

Florida and Toronto game goes over with Toronto having nothing to play for and Florida having nothing to lose but something to gain if Boston loses.

Winnipeg needs a win of Seattle to lock in home ice over the Avs in the first round. – The Jets have scored three or more goals in seven of their eight total meetings.

Vegas needs to win out to leapfrog the Kings for third in the division. That would set them up with the Oilers who they’ve lost eight of their last eleven against. Vegas is 11-3-3 overall against Dallas if they lose and stay in the final wild card spot. Losing to Chicago or Anaheim in the final two games of the season will be tough to sell but they have struggled against Chicago only winning five of their last ten.

Vancouver needs one point in two games to lock up the division

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