By Ravi Surampudi
Staff Writer
The regular season has been winding down, but the race for playoff spots is still up in the air. The New York Rangers firmly have the top seed in the Eastern Conference and the nearest competition for first place is the Boston Bruins with 93 points. The Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals are two points apart from each other for eighth place in the conference.
The Western Conference, however, is more competitive than the Eastern Conference. The St. Louis Blues lead the conference with 105 points, and the Vancouver Canucks are just two points behind them with 103 points. The seventh and eighth place in the Western Conference is a competition among five teams: Dallas Stars in third place in the conference with 89 points. The Los Angeles Kings have 88 points and the San Jose Sharks also have 88 points. The Phoenix Coyotes have 87 points in ninth place and the Colorado Avalanche have 86 points.
This final week of the season is very crucial, as teams want to make it to the playoffs that are on the bubble. Teams that are out of the playoff picture play as hard as they can and play the spoiler role as they try to knock off teams that are trying to make the playoffs.
Once the regular season is over on April 5, the playoffs will start. The winner of the Stanley Cup Finals will hold up Lord Stanley’s Cup in June.
