Nobody's losing

What a weekend for hockey in the NHL's Eastern Conference. Could things be any tighter? Unless the teams are playing each other, it seems like none of the contenders are losing. In fact, even then, most of the games go to OT, like yesterday's Rangers-Islanders game, when the Rangers won late in OT on a power play goal by Michael Nylander. (an original draft choice of ye olde Hartford Whalers, by the way).

'Canes take on Canadiens tomorrow night. Yet another 'big game.' Those two teams are tied with the Islanders for the 8th playoff spot. Tampa Bay is now in 7th, two points ahead of them, with the Rangers in 6th, three points up. All of the teams have either 6 or 7 games left.

Who do y'all like out there, folks?

Big game tonite for 'Canes

Much like the Rangers, who took care of business at home against a weaker division opponent (Flyers) last night, the Hurricanes, clinging to 8th spot in Eastern Conference playoff, need to dispose of the Capitals tonight.

Caps are on the 2nd night of back-to-back games, while 'Canes are rested. And the Caps lost last night, badly, to Sabres. So there's no excuse not to put up a "We're the defending Cup champs and we're not losing down the stretch at home'' type of game.

Rangers shut out the Flyers, 5-0, a game whose tone was set early with a Colton Orr-Todd Fedorryk fistfight in which the Rangers' Orr downed his opponent with one vicious overhead right. Down and out to the hospital. I don't think I've ever seen a Rangers player do that before.

In any event, if Montreal, which is at Boston, loses, it will give the 'Canes a little bit of air, though not too much. Maple Leafs are right there, too. They don't play til tomorrow, at Buffalo.

Helluva stretch race in the east.

Meanwhile, the only race of note in the West, Colorado chasing Calgary, is getting closer. Avs have the lead down to 4 points; both teams have 9 games left.

Closing in

The Eastern Conference playoff picture is narrowing again. Barring a remarkable turnaround, you can pretty much count Boston Bruins out. Rangers pasted them 7-0 on Saturday. The Hurricanes and Rangers, at 80 and 79 points, occupy the 7th and 8th playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. The Islanders, Canadiens and Maple Leafs are at 78. Rangers make up a game in hand tonite and can leapfrog past the 'Canes if they beat the Penguins.

Pens are on 2nd night of back-to-back and could be ripe for taking if Rangers are sharp. Should be a fun game and it's on VS. That's channel 56 on your cable dial. And 608 on DirecTV. Only 9 games left after tonite for both Rangers and 'Canes as both to look to return to playoffs for consecutive seasons.

Interesting battle for NHL overall points lead Nashville is back on top of Red Wings, but Wings have a game in hand. Buffalo and Anaheim also are right there. Top team, of course, clinches home ice throughout the playoffs. That might not be as important in early rounds where talent differential shows more, but as 'Canes know from last year, home ice can be critical in the last two rounds.

Were you lucky enough....

To find Vs., the NHL's broadcast network, and turn on last night's offering, Buffalo-Pittsburgh, you would have had quite a treat.

I didn't see the first two periods. My loss. But the 3rd period, OT and shootout? Wow. Now I know the difference between playoff pretenders like 'my team', the Rangers, and the real deal teams. Sabres and Penguins played incredibly hard, incredibly fast hockey. Basically full tilt. The Sabres tied the game with 5 seconds left after Pittsburgh blew two chances at the empty net, one of which left the puck sitting about 6 inches in front of the goal line for Daniel Briere (what a player) and Chris Drury to rush back down ice with 15 seconds left and make a play, Briere from behind the Pittsburgh net finding Drury in front. He actually mishit the puck, but the change in direction got underneath Marc-Andre Fleury's pads. Goaltending could be a problem for Pittsburgh in the playoffs. I'm not sure Fleury is ready for the grind of two-month playoff run. But man can these teams skate. I would watch either of them in a heartbeat in the playoffs.

Meanwhile, Eastern Conference playoff order flips, with Rangers blowing ANOTHER 2-goal lead at home and losing to Ottawa, while Hurricanes took care of business in Raleigh and beat Florida. So 'Canes now occupy the 8th spot. The battle continues.

Time to get cranking

OK, hockey fans.

Now's the real time of year. The final playoff push and then the Stanley Cup playoffs. The hockey has been pretty intense the past week, especially in the Eastern Conference, where six teams are vying for two playoff positions.

Right now, the locks are: Devils, Penguins, Sabres, Senators, Thrashers and Lightning.

Then you have: Islanders, Rangers, Hurricanes, Toronto, Montreal and Boston fighting for the last two spots. Islanders have 78 points and 14 games left, the Rangers and Hurricanes are at 76 points (but Rangers have a game in hand and one less loss, so they're technically ahead in the tiebreak position) while Boston, the bottom of the six teams, has 71 points. Like I said, quite a scramble.

The Western Conference picture is much clearer. Barring unforeseen collapses, the playoff teams are set: Nashville, Detroit, Vancouver, Minnesota, Calgary, Anaheim, San Jose and Dallas. Only Colorado would seem to have a shot left of anyone else, and they're trailing Calgary, the eighth-place team, by 8 points. Tip of the cap to St. Louis Blues, who are now at .500 for the season, remarkable comeback from awful start and staying power despite salary dumps at trade deadline. But they are out of playoff picture.

Final thought: Islanders Chris Simon suspended 25 games for assault on Ryan Hollweg of Rangers. If you haven't seen the video, you can find it on ESPN's Web site. Basically, Simon got checked, didn't like it and took about 10 seconds to find his man and use a two hander to the neck/face. In the real world, that's called assault with a deadly weapon. Premeditated.

Good riddance.