6. The Panthers’ struggle to keep their three-peat bid alive<\/p>\n
The Florida Panthers’ hopes of becoming the first team to win three consecutive Stanley Cup championships since the New York Islanders’ run of four in a row from 1980-83 are on thin ice. Florida (29-25-3) has been hampered by injuries all season and trails the Boston Bruins (32-20-5) by eight points for the second wild card from the East with 25 games remaining. The Panthers still are missing forwards Aleksander Barkov<\/a> (knee surgery), Tomas Nosek<\/a> (knee surgery) and Jonah Gadjovich<\/a>\u00a0(upper body), and defensemen Seth Jones<\/a> (upper body) and Dmitry Kulikov<\/a>\u00a0(upper body). Barkov and Nosek might not play this season unless Florida makes the playoffs.<\/p>\n 7. Red Wings and Sabres look to end postseason droughts<\/p>\n The Detroit Red Wings haven’t qualified for the playoffs since 2016 and the Buffalo Sabres haven’t made the postseason since 2011, but each is in a good spot coming out of the break. Detroit (33-19-6) is tied with the Montreal\u00a0Canadiens (32-17-8) for second in the Atlantic Division with 72 points, and Buffalo (32-19-6) is two points behind in the first wild card in the East, one point ahead of Boston. The Red Wings missed the playoffs by a tiebreaker in 2023-24 and the Sabres missed by one point in 2022-23. Can they finish the job this time?<\/p>\n 8. Can any of the East teams on the outside get in?<\/p>\n In addition to the Panthers, the Columbus Blue Jackets, Washington Capitals, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers are looking to mount late comebacks to get back into the East playoff picture. Columbus (29-20-7), which has won seven in a row and is 10-1-0 since Rick\u00a0Bowness replaced Dean Evason as coach on Jan. 12, is four points behind Boston for the second wild card and four points behind the Islanders (32-21-5) for third in the Metropolitan Division, as is Washington (29-23-7). Ottawa (28-22-7) and Toronto (27-21-9) are six points behind Boston. Philadelphia (25-20-11) is eight points behind Boston and New York.<\/p>\n 9. The battle in the Pacific<\/p>\n It’s shaping up to be a free-for-all for the top three spots in Pacific Division. The Seattle Kraken (27-20-9) and the Ducks are one point behind the Oilers (28-22-8) for second in the division, and the Vegas Golden Knights (27-16-14) lead Edmonton by four points for first. The Kings (three points behind the\u00a0Kraken and Ducks) and the Sharks (two points behind Los Angeles) also are within striking distance of the top three, while contending for the two West wild cards. A late-season hot streak for any of those teams not only could bring a playoff berth, but also home-ice advantage in the first round, which goes to the top two teams in each division.<\/p>\n 10. Is this Ovechkin’s last ride?<\/p>\n Alex Ovechkin<\/a> said he will “probably” wait until after the season to decide whether this be his last in the NHL. The 40-year-old Capitals captain is in the final season of his contract, though, so this could be his last opportunity to get in the playoffs and make a run. He also has time to make more history. With 996 total goals — an NHL-record 919 in the regular season and 77 in the playoffs — Ovechkin is four away from joining Wayne Gretzky<\/a> (1,016) as the only players in League history with 1,000 combined goals. His 752 regular-season assists also leave him 11 away from breaking Nicklas Backstrom<\/a>‘s Capitals record of 762.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"6. 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