The Eastern Conference playoff field is set. How it all shakes out, though, is yet to be determined.
Barring a miracle, the Pittsburgh Penguins are locked into one of three postseason seeding spots: third place in the Metropolitan Division, the first wild card or the second (final) wild card. The opponents for those three almost certainly would be the New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes (in some order) for taking one of those former two spots, or the Florida Panthers if the Penguins are the second wild-card.
Are the Penguins paying attention to how the home stretch is playing out? They’re only human, so, of course they are.
“I mean, I am sure everybody is looking at it,” veteran forward Jeff Carter said.
A few minutes later, defenseman Mike Matheson added: “I think everybody is paying attention to the standings at this point of the year, regardless of what situation you’re in.”
Sitting at 97 points with five games to play, the Penguins trail the Boston Bruins by two points and held a one-point lead on the Washington Capitals heading into the latter’s game late Wednesday night at the Vegas Golden Knights. Finishing below Washington drops the Penguins into a wild card; dropping below both teams makes them the lowest wild-card in.
Got all that? Don’t worry — the Penguins insist it’s largely irrelevant anyway.
“It doesn’t really mean a whole lot,” Carter said, “because the only thing we can really worry about is these last five games and try to get on a roll and rack up some points and wherever it falls, it falls.”
Carter said the goal is the Penguins “would like to be on a roll going in” to the postseason, a point with which Matheson wholeheartedly agreed. The Penguins want to be peaking at the right time because this year’s Eastern Conference playoff field has been receiving plaudits as perhaps the best the NHL ever has had.
It’s more likely than not all eight teams will have 100 or more points. Three of those eight have combined for six of the past seven Stanley Cup titles. With five points in their final six games, the Panthers would tie for the third-most standings points posted by a team since 2005-06.
“I think, especially this year, it seems like every team is so good coming down the stretch here,” Matheson said.
