Minor miracle required

I've been out of town so I haven't been able to update. I missed the game Friday, selling the tickets to the neighbors of a co-worker. I found out that the Canes lost late on Friday, pretty much crippling any chance they have to get into the playoffs. It would essentially require them to win out and have both Montreal and Toronto lose the majority of their games. Considering Montreal and Toronto end the season against each other, we know at least one of them will gain two points. That has to be the only win essentially, regardless of who it is. They're as officially done as they can be without being officially done. The crazy thing is that we've moved up from 11th to 10th thanks to the Islanders.

The "miracle" scenario: The Rangers win their next three against Toronto, the Islanders, and Montreal; Montreal loses out, Toronto loses everything except the last game versus Montreal, leaving them at 89 points and 39 wins. Carolina then needs to pick up 5 points in their last 4 games with at least two victories (giving them the tie-breaker).

The "minor miracle" scenario: The Rangers win their next three (95 points), Montreal wins 1 of 3 (90 points, 91 with an OTL), Toronto no more than 2 of 4 (91 points), Carolina wins out (92 points), the Islanders lose at least 1 of 4 (no more than 91 points).

As you can see, neither scenario is particularly likely.

3. Atlanta (93 pts, 3 GR) - FLA, TOR, BOS, WAS, CAR, TB
6. Tampa Bay (90 pts, 3 GR) - FLA, CAR, WAS, CAR, FLA, ATL
7. NY Rangers (89 pts, 4 GR) - NYI, MON, PHI, TOR, NYI, MON, PIT
8. Montreal (88pts, 3 GR) - NYR, OTT, BUF, BOS, NYR, TOR
9. Toronto (87pts, 4 GR) - CAR, ATL, PIT, NYR, PHI, NYI, MON
10. Carolina (84pts, 4 GR) - TOR, PHI, TB, FLA, TB, ATL, FLA
11. NY Islanders (84pts, 4 GR) - NYR, NJ, BUF, OTT, NYR, TOR, PHI, NJ