NHL Playoff Death Watch: Wild card gets a little more wild

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 New York Rangers can breathe a little easier now that they’ve clinched a playoff seed, with their win over Columbus on Monday night.

The New York Islanders? Sure, they can breathe easier as well, after their win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

But they can’t completely 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.

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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:

As you can see, it would take a near-total collapse from the Islanders to finish behind either the Detroit Red Wings or Boston Bruins, given that those teams only have three games left.

Meanwhile, Florida’s win over puts them at 99 points to the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 95. The Florida Panthers are going to be a 100-point team. And Mike Sullivan will probably steal the Jack Adams (more on that later today).

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

*Wild Card Teams

The Bruins host the Carolina Hurricanes tonight. According to SCS, a loss in regulation to the Canes would drop their playoff percentage to 40.9 while raising that of the Detroit Red Wings to 71.3. These two teams battle on Thursday night.

The Islanders, meanwhile, limp into Washington to face a Capitals team that’ll be trying to get Braden Holtby the all-time record for wins in a single regular season.

Meanwhile, in the West:

The Blues tied the Dallas Stars in points with 105, but don’t have the tie-breaker. Dallas ends with two home games, while the Blues must go on the road to Chicago and then host Washington in what should be a game missing a few Capitals stars.

The Blackhawks, meanwhile, can still catch the Blues if they win out and the Blues drop their next two. Hell, they can win the conference if they won out and both the Stars and Blues lose out.

Big night in the Pacific, as the Kings lick their wounds from an upset loss to the Canucks. The Ducks host the Jets while Los Angeles is in Calgary. The Kings and Ducks face each other on Thursday night.

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

*Wild Card Teams

The Avalanche can be eliminated tonight with a combination of two points either gained by the Minnesota Wild or lost by themselves. Based on their recent performance, we’ll go with the latter. Hopefully no one on the Avalanche dares show any exuberance on this solemn evening in Nashville.

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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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