NHL Playoff Death Watch: Crazy night ahead in Eastern Conference

Since we're down to the final moments of postseason life for teams in contention, Puck Daddy solemnly begins a daily countdown to annihilation.

The top 10 teams in the Eastern Conference are all in action on Thursday night, as are two teams right on the Western Conference bubble.

We mention this fully knowing that the attention of the hockey world will be on the two worst teams in the NHL facing off in a competition to see which one is worster.

But while you watch the Coyotes and the Sabres play a game of hot potato, here’s the rest of the awesome on Thursday night:

Montreal at Winnipeg: The only 100-point team in the NHL battles a Jets team that’s holding onto the last wild card in the West.

Nashville at Tampa Bay: Two teams battling for the top seed in their divisions and the NHL overall. The Preds could move into first in the West with a win and some help; ditto the Lightning in the East.

San Jose at Detroit: Eh, not the most important game, considering the plight of the Sharks, but the Wings need to find their footing before the playoffs.

NY Rangers at Ottawa: Oh, just a team on a miracle run to the playoffs against one of the top teams in the NHL. Henrik Lundqvist returns, but will ride the pine.

LA Kings at NY Islanders: The streaking Kings can be in third in the Pacific with a win; the Islanders are trying to maintain home ice in the first round.

Pittsburgh at Carolina: The Penguins are trying to catch the Islanders and keep ahead of the Capitals.

New Jersey at Washington: The Caps are an equal number of points behind the Penguins for third in the Metro and ahead of the Sens on the playoff bubble. They’re not out of the woods yet.

Anaheim at Boston: The Bruins face a reeling Ducks team, trailing the Sens by a point for the final wild card.

Florida at Toronto: The Cats try to put a huge loss to the Lightning behind them and try to catch the Sens and Bruins.

Annnnd exhale…

Here are the current standings. The Death Watch tracks the final Wild Card spot and the teams that are chasing it. Their “tragic number” is the number of points gained by the final wild card team or lost by the team chasing it.

All playoff percentages are from Sports Club Stats; tragic numbers and other figures via the NHL. A team is eliminated from play-offs when their "Tragic Number" hits 0.

Here’s the Eastern Conference picture:

The Sens still have a game in-hand on the Bruins and the Capitals, and have a game against the Caps on the schedule.

We’re not pessimistic about the Caps, we really aren’t … but after this Devils game, they have seven of eight games against playoff teams. Ottawa’s last 10 has four games against non-playoff teams; ditto Boston’s last nine.

Meanwhile, in the West …

Wacky times in the West. The Kings win, and they leapfrog over the Flames into the third seed in the Pacific; the Flames would then be on the outside looking in, no matter what the Jets did.

But it would be advisable that the Jets start winning again, because the Flames are still picking up points and the Dallas Stars won’t seen to go away. Even if they have just a 1.9 percent chance of making the playoffs.

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