The NHL playoffs begin on April 18, and a handful of teams continue to jostle for playoff spots in each conference, including teams on the outside looking in that are surging. On Sunday, the Tampa Bay Lightning made a big jump, not only to the top of the Atlantic Division but to the top of the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how the playoff bracket would look at the end of Sunday\u2019s games, followed by analysis of each potential playoff team.<\/p>\n
Eastern ConferenceCarolina Hurricanes (Metro 1) vs. Boston Bruins (Wild-card 1)<\/p>\n
The Hurricanes have been in the Eastern Conference final in two of the last three seasons. And with the Florida Panthers all but officially out of the playoff picture, this might be the Canes\u2019 best chance of making the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2006. Rod Brind\u2019Amour was captaining, not coaching, the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup 20 years ago. The Canes remain analytical darlings based off Corsi. But because of surging teams in the Atlantic Division, the Hurricanes fell out of the conference\u2019s top seed on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Their new potential opponent, the Bruins, are holding steady in a wild-card spot while having a strong home record (27-10-1). A big reason why is the play of Jeremy Swayman, who has the second-best goals-saved above expected rate behind Washington\u2019s Logan Thompson. Boston will need all the home fortune they can muster, since they have only three home games remaining among their final eight games.<\/p>\n
Remaining schedules:<\/p>\n
Hurricanes (9 games): at Columbus (Tuesday), vs. Columbus (Thursday), vs. New York Islanders (April 4), at Ottawa (April 5), vs. Boston (April 7), at Chicago (April 9), at Utah (April 11), at Philadelphia (April 13), at New York Islanders (April 14).<\/p>\n
Bruins (8 games): vs. Dallas (Tuesday), at Florida (Thursday), at Tampa Bay (April 4), at Philadelphia (April 5), at Carolina (April 7), vs. Tampa Bay (April 11), at Columbus (April 12), vs. New Jersey (April 14).<\/p>\n
New York Islanders (Metro 2) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (Metro 3)<\/p>\n
The Islanders, with Matthew Schaefer blocking<\/a> shots<\/a> like he\u2019s Ryan Pulock \u2014 and don\u2019t forget goalie Ilya Sorokin \u2014 are surging with three wins in their last four games, and have been helped by Columbus\u2019 recent stumbles. But at this point, second place in the division doesn\u2019t guarantee anything.<\/p>\n The Penguins began this season as the likely landing spot for Gavin McKenna in the draft. Barring a season-ending catastrophe, Sidney Crosby and the Pens will return to the postseason for the first time in four years. But it\u2019s been bumpy of late, with one win in their last four games. Still, it\u2019s been an admirable turnaround for the Pens, who went from crumbling empire to playoff dark horse under first-year head coach Dan Muse. And thanks to their draft-pick stockpile \u2014 15 picks in the first three rounds over the next three years \u2014 they could be building a promising future.<\/p>\n Remaining schedules:<\/p>\n Islanders (8 games): vs. Pittsburgh (Monday), at Buffalo (Tuesday), vs. Philadelphia (Friday), at Carolina (April 4), vs. Toronto (April 9), vs. Ottawa (April 11), vs. Montreal (April 12), vs. Carolina (April 14).<\/p>\n Penguins (9 games): at New York Islanders (Monday), vs. Detroit (Tuesday), at Tampa Bay (Thursday), vs. Florida (April 4), vs. Florida (April 5), at New Jersey (April 9), vs. Washington (April 11), at Washington (April 12), at St. Louis (April 14).<\/p>\n Tampa Bay Lightning (Atlantic 1) vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (Wild-card 2)<\/p>\n