West watch - lots of pucks to keep your eyes on tonight!

The Jackets don't hit the ice again until tomorrow night in Chicago but that shouldn't stop you from watching some hockey!! There are some key games on the NHL docket tonight that have major implications on the Jackets push for their first post season playoff birth.

Put simply there are 3 remaining threats to the Jackets and their bids for the playoffs at this point. They are Anaheim, St. Louis and Nashville. The Jackets have a game at hand on Anaheim but have the same amount of games remaining as the Blues and Preds at 3.

Tonight 26 of the 30 teams are in action throughout the NHL. Both the Jackets and the Ducks have the night off and will be scoreboard watching like the rest of us.

Let's take a look a the key games through the Jackets eyes tonight:

Chicago @ Nashville - 8:00 EST
Analysis: Chicago has won their past 3 and is on a roll and have locked up a spot in the playoffs. They are still lookin to solidify their first round home ice advantage so they do have something to play for. The Preds are the more motivated team as they look to retain their 8th playoff position. This is also their final home game of the season. Out of the 5 games played between these two teams the home team has won every time. I can't see Nashville blowing this game.
Edge: Nashville

St. Louis @ Phoenix - 10:00 EST
Analysis: Although tied with Nashville with 86 points, St. Louis finds itself in 9th place due to tie breakers. The Blues are 6-2-2 in their past 10 but lost an OT game and subsequent point versus Dallas in their last outing. They'll face a Phoenix squad who at 75 points has nothing to play for other than jobs or to be a spoiler. If their 6-3-1 record over their past 10 is any indication they aren't rolling over to increase their draft position and are playing some decent hockey right now. They have one more game at home after this one so I'm expecting a "let's do it for our fans" rallying cry here. The Blues have won all 3 games in this series. With the way the Blues are playing I think they make the dogs bark in the dessert, complete the sweep and grab the 2 points.
Edge: St. Louis

While I think both the Preds and Blues will win there are factors here that show the opposition could throw a monkey in their wrench. For the 'hawks they are a good team still battling for playoff position. For the 'yotes they really don't have anything to lose and have been playing well lately so why not play spoiler?

A loss by either team practically puts the Jackets in the playoffs.

Another factor to keep in mind is that this time it's the Jackets who will be rested and waiting on the 'hawks to return to Chicago for the tail end of their back to back on Wednesday night.

For a better breakdown of all the different scenarios be sure to check out the Dispatch's path to the postseason article today. Be forewarned that staring at this too long will result in head explosion.

Also Sportsclubstats.com gives the Jackets a 98.12% chance of making the playoffs as of today.

I know it can be hard rooting for other teams and I'll admit I felt a little dirty rooting for the Wings to beat the Wild the other day..... then I thought of what Hitch has said a lot this season in that in order to reach the playoffs, players must do uncomfortable things. I think that theory can certainly be applied to fans as well.

GO 'HAWKS & 'YOTES!

-LTL

Hawks win!

The Jackets get the help they needed tonight as the Chicago Blackhawks knock off the Nashville Predators 3-1 (with the help of an empty net).

The win keeps the Preds 4 points behind the Jackets in 9th place.

You can expect one desperate Preds hockey team tomorrow night in Nashville. The Jackets will need their A-game and will need to weather that first 10 minutes. The Jackets will need to be opportunistic (i.e. no posts just the back of nets) and Mase will once again have to be the man. Get those ugly goals on Rinne like we did on Tuesday boys!

Updated standings:

Team GP W Pts 1. y-San Jose 77 51 113 2. y-Detroit 77 49 107 3. x-Vancouver 77 42 94 4. x-Calgary 78 44 94 5. x-Chicago 76 41 93 6. Columbus 77 40 88 7. Anaheim 78 40 86 8. St. Louis 78 38 85 9. Nashville 77 38 84 10. Minnesota 78 37 83 11. Edmonton 78 36 81 12. Dallas 78 34 78 13. Phoenix 78 34 75 14. Los Angeles 77 31 73 15. Colorado 77 31 64

On a side note with the win the 'hawks just clinched a spot in the Western Conference playoffs for the first time in 7 years. Perhaps we can catch them sleeping on Sunday but for now all of the Jackets focus must be on the Preds -- that game is going to be two cars colliding at 100 mph.

I'll have more tomorrow.

-LTL

Race in the West

This link was posted by eplagge and its a great look at the race in the West for the final playoff spots:

I had to shrink the table quite a bit to get it to fit here but follow this link to see it in full.

I agree with those who commented in the post below that this is definitely something the Dispatch or Jackets official site should replicate.

This site now gives the Jackets a 91% chance at making the playoffs.

Of course you can bet your Tim Horton's Stinger donut on the fact that Hitch is keeping this squad fully focused on one thing -- and that's winning the next game against Florida.

-LTL

West watch

The Jackets got a little help last night but not much.

In the "help" category the red hot Canucks were able to knock off the St. Louis Blues by a final of 3-0. San Jose was able to take care of Nashville but it took a shootout... hey, 1 point is better than two right?

As much as it pains me to do so, I've got to hand it a little Nashville.. they had a 4 game road trip and just took points out of every single game to keep their season alive.

Damn them!

LA, Edmonton and Anaheim all collected two points in their match ups which clearly puts them in the "non-help" category.

Here is how the West looks after last night's games:

Team GP W Pts 1. x-Detroit 71 47 103 2. y-San Jose 70 46 102 3. Calgary 70 41 88 4. Vancouver 70 38 85 5. Chicago 69 37 84 6. Columbus 71 37 80 7. Edmonton 70 34 77 8. Nashville 72 35 77 9. Minnesota 70 33 74 10. Anaheim 71 34 74 11. Dallas 71 33 74 12. St. Louis 71 32 73 13. Los Angeles 70 30 70 14. Phoenix 71 29 65 15. Colorado 72 31 64

As you can see the gap from 6th to 8th is only 3 points. The cushion grows a little bigger to 6 points when you look at that 9th spot.

Jackets just got to keep winning.

Obviously I'd love to see the Jackets win at both Florida and Tampa but if they can grab at least two points I think they'll be in decent shape.

Speaking of Florida.. they knocked off Toronto by a final of 3-1. I hope they got their win out of their system! If you recall the last time we played Florida they whipped our butt at Nationwide -- what I remember most from that game was how fast they were...especially David Booth who can absolutely scoot.

The best part of last night's games though was seeing the Sharks' Brad Staubitz absolutely wreck Jordan Tootoo's face to a bloody pulp. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy!

Power rankings coming up later today!

-LTL

West watch

Pretty quite on the Jackets front today so let's take a look at the West and see how things are shaping up.

Last night there was only 1 key Western Conference game as that was the Nashville Predators vs. L.A. Kings. As much as I want Nashville to go away they just won't. They won their second straight on the road knocking off those Kings 4-3.

Here are the current standings:

Western Conference Team GP W Pts 1. Detroit 70 46 101 2. San Jose 68 45 100 3. Calgary 69 40 86 4. Chicago 67 37 83 5. Vancouver 68 36 81 6. Columbus 70 36 78 7. Nashville 70 35 75 8. Dallas 69 33 74 9. Edmonton 68 32 73 10. Minnesota 69 32 72 11. St. Louis 69 32 72 12. Anaheim 69 32 70 13. Los Angeles 69 29 68 14. Colorado 70 31 63 15. Phoenix 69 28 62

As you can see the Jackets are just 3 points out 5th but also just 3 points out of 7th and 4 points out of a playoff spot all together. Every team still in the race outside of Nashville still has games in hand on the Jackets.

Which leads us to tonight. There are lots of key Western Conference games.

Let's start with the Jackets opponent tomorrow night in the Chicago Blackhawks.

* Blackhawks @ Devils - the 'hawks are struggling having gone just 3-6-1 in their past 10 games. Right now they are endanger of getting passed up by the Vancouver Canucks who sit just 2 points behind them in 5th spot - the 'hawks do have a game in hand however. They'll try to get back on track against New Jersey which is a place where the Devils have lost just 10 times (24-10-1) this season.

The Jackets do have the advantage of the Blackhawks playing a back to back tomorrow but make no mistake about it -- win or lose in NJ -- the Jackets will get the 'hawks best game come Wednesday night as they will be looking at that game not only as payback for the Jackets win at the United Center this past Friday but also as a must win to solidfy their playoff position and get back on track.... The Jackets will need to be at the top of their game.

Other games include:

* Avalanche @ Wild - the Avs could do the Jackets a big favor by winning this one as the Wild sit just 6 points behind the Jackets in 10th place with 72 points. The Avalanche are a non playoff factor sitting in 14th place with 63 points (insert Foote joke here). The bad news is that the Avs are doing their best Tavares tank job down the stretch as they've gone just 3-7 over their past 10.

* Blues @ Oilers - the Blues have 72 points and sit in 11th while the Oil are 9th with 73 points. The last thing the Jackets need is a 3 point game in this matchup.

* Stars @ Canucks - similar to the game above the last thing the Jackets need is a 3 point game. I think we want the Canucks to win here as IMO win, lose or draw (wait.. no more draws in the NHL) they will make the playoffs... the Stars are still hanging around in 8th place with 74 points and with a win could close the gap on the Jackets within 2 points.

With 12 games to go the Jackets schedule shapes up as the following:

Home: 6
Away: 6
vs. Conference: 10
vs. Division: 8
vs. East: 2
Back to backs remaining: 3

Projected point total to make playoffs: 90
Projected record of remaining games for Jackets to make playoffs: 6-6; 6-5-1, etc.

Bottom line is the Jackets have to keep winning...especially at home in this last half dozen games...and they are going to have to do it against teams directly in competition with them. Keep winning and the playoffs and positioning takes care of itself.

This race should make for some fantastic Jackets hockey down the stretch. The kind of hockey this market has never seen.

In the meantime we need to continue to pack Masonwide and support these guys! If you don't have your tickets, get out there and get em!!

Have a green beer today and GO JACKETS..... (and Devils/Canucks/Avs..and no 3 point games)!!

-LTL

West watch

Some things went the Jackets way last night like the Predators beating the Ducks and the Avalanche taking care of the Stars - both in regulation.

Some didn't like the Oil beating Blues in OT.. hate those 3 point Western Conference games. The Kings also continue to roll taking care of the Caps 5-4.

Don't look now but Nashville, LA and Colorado have all pulled within 2 points of the Jackets. Heck St. Louis is now only 5 points back.

The gap between 5th and 15th place is only a mere 9 points. At this stage of the season that is pretty spectacular.

Some key games tonight highlighed by the Preds/Wild and the Stars/Rangers.

Just another example of how every single game and every single point is important in this race for the Jackets.

-LTL

West watch

Bad night for the CBJ in the battle of the West.

Both the Colorado Avalanche and the Anaheim Ducks won in regulation last night.

The Ducks stay in 5th place but pull out to a 4 point lead over the Jackets with 57 points as they beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-2. The Avalanche closed the gap with their 4-3 win over Calgary... they now have 49 points.

The Jackets have games in hand with both of these squads.

The Jackets opponent tonight, the St. Louis Blues, played last night against the Wings and quite frankly lost a game they should have won in a shootout due to horrendous goaltending by Manny Legace early in that game (he was pulled in favor of Chris Mason).

The good news is that the Blues played last night and that it went to OT. Hopefully that tranlsates into a tired St. Louis squad tonight.

The bad news is they looked really motivated and really tough to play against. I'm really liking that Oshie kid....Berglund is looking pretty damn dangerous too!

The Jackets certainly have their work cut out for them tonight in a game where they need to get 2 points -- more later.

-LTL

West watch

The Jackets got a little help yesterday as the Nashville Predators beat the Edmonton Oilers in regulation.

The Oil are still tied with the Jackets at 53 points along with Minnesota, Phoenix and Dallas. Everyone besides Phoenix still has games at hand on the Jackets however.

There are only 3 NHL games tonight but a couple of key teams to keep an eye on. The Avalanche take on the Flames while the Ducks take on the Sabres.

Flames look to be pulling away in that top 4 in the West so I'll be rooting for them to take two from the Avs in regulation. The Ducks obviously are the biggie... they sit in 5th place with just 53 with 52 games played (2 more than the Jackets) -- I'll be a big Sabres fan tonight. Go Miller/Vanek/Roy/Spacek and co!

The Jackets have 3 games in 5 nights this week. They are at home against St. Louis tomorrow night... on the road in Pittsburgh this Friday and then right back to Columbus for a battle with the best of the west in San Jose on Saturday night.

I'll be happy with a 2-1 record out of that group... They need a big bounce back game and to grab two big points from that Blues team tomorrow night!

-LTL