NHL Playoff Death Watch: Boston outside of playoffs, for the moment

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

That thing that the Boston Bruins didn’t want to have happen? It happened.

The Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers were both victorious on Saturday, pushing the Bruins outside of the playoff bubble for the moment. The Wings have 91 points with three games remaining – one of them against the Bruins – and the Flyers have 91 points with five games remaining – one of them against Detroit.

The Bruins have 90 points, four games left and are in action on Sunday at the Chicago Blackhawks, who will be without the suspended Duncan Keith.

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.

The Eastern Conference picture, via the NHL:

Fare thee well to the Carolina Hurricanes, eliminated from playoff contention.

The Penguins won again, and host the Flyers on Sunday. Pittsburgh is now three points ahead of the Rangers in the Metro, and the Rangers remain two points ahead of the Islanders for the first wild card, who are two points ahead of the Flyers.

The Rangers are going to make the playoffs. No worries there. Question is, wouldn’t they rather play the Atlantic winner as the first wild card than the Penguins’ buzzsaw in Round 1?

The Islanders, however, aren’t out of the woods yet.

Here are the latest Eastern Conference playoff odds from Sports Club Stats:

*Wild Card Teams

The Islanders still have rather robust odds to make the postseason, but this is a struggling hockey team right now. There is, at the moment, just a two percent chance they finish outside the playoff bubble, and have a game in-hand on Boston and two games in-hand on Detroit, but they also have a difficult last five games.

Even Buffalo, as the Rangers discovered last night.

Meanwhile, in the West:

Huge win for the Dallas Stars over the LA Kings, putting them very much in the driver’s seat to avoid the Blackhawks in Round 1. The Blues, on the other hand … well, prepare for war.

The Kings, meanwhile, remain a point up on the Ducks, who have a game in-hand and a game with the Kings on the schedule. The Ducks host the Stars on Sunday.

Here are the latest Western Conference playoff odds from Sports Club Stats:

*Wild Card Teams

The Avalanche host the Blues on Sunday, with their tragic number sitting at four. The Wild have two winnable games left as well as they’re own tangle with the Blues. It would basically take an Avalanche table-run – against playoff teams – and a Minnesota collapse for them to get in.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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