Crossroads

This is it - the final stretch. I couldn't make the game tonight - my wife had a baby shower to go to and my son has a double ear infection. Still, I was able to watch everything from here. San Jose is a very scary team and the Canes jumped out on them quick. They blew some easy chances in that rush, including a 2-on-0 with Staal and Cole; they almost came to regret it too.

Still, the guys played a great game when they needed to and got a very crucial two points. Toronto, Philly, and Tampa are up next. Every game is must-win at this point as there is no room for error. The playoffs probably started, in earnest, last week.

If the playoff cutoff projection of 92 points is true, the Canes need to win 4 of their last 7. That's very doable. Let's look at the remaining schedules of everyone involved.

3. Atlanta (88pts, 6 GR) - FLA, TOR, BOS, WAS, CAR, TB
6. Tampa Bay (86pts, 6 GR) - FLA, CAR, WAS, CAR, FLA, ATL
7. NY Rangers (85pts, 7 GR) - NYI, MON, PHI, TOR, NYI, MON, PIT
8. Carolina (84pts, 7 GR) - TOR, PHI, TB, FLA, TB, ATL, FLA
9. Montreal (84pts, 6 GR) - NYR, OTT, BUF, BOS, NYR, TOR
10. NY Islanders (83pts, 8GR) - NYR, NJ, BUF, OTT, NYR, TOR, PHI, NJ
11. Toronto (82pts, 7 GR) - CAR, ATL, PIT, NYR, PHI, NYI, MON

The Islanders and Candiens both have the most difficult roads, both with games remaining against Buffalo and Ottawa. The Isles have two tilts against New Jersey as well, so it's definitely going to be a tough road. The Rangers play both the Islanders and Canadiens twice down the stretch, so it is entirely possible that those three teams will do most of the weeding out amongst themselves.

Atlanta only has three games against any teams in the playoff race, so they should be relatively safe unless they completely implode. Now it comes down to winning the games against non-playoff foes and making the most against your head-to-head matchups.