Coast to Coast Hockey: Week 1 Roundup
Hello Coast to Coast Hockey readers. Following up from my introduction and overview last week, I am writing this week to provide the results and analysis from each division this past week. Please note: at least to start out, I will feature coverage on a 7-day basis, from Sunday to Saturday. In this week one recap, I will be covering the divisional highlights from Sunday, 3/28 to Saturday, 4/3.
Central Division
The NHL Central Division is an appropriate place to start because it features the hottest team in the league, the Florida Panthers. Having played 39 games (only behind their divisional rivals, the Detroit Red Wings and the Columbus Blue Jackets), the Panthers sit atop the division with a league-leading 56 points. The Panthers went a perfect 4–0 last week, adding to their current six game win streak, thanks to stellar play from captain Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau, who have tallied 40 and 42 points this season, respectively. They’ve gotten strong contributions on the back end from defensemen MacKenzie Weegar, Keith Yandle and Aaron Eklbad, though Ekblad will be out 12 weeks after suffering a gruesome leg injury last Sunday.
Look out for the Panthers to make a splash at the trade deadline this week to replace Ekblad on the blue line as they head into the playoffs.
The Tampa Bay Lightning, sitting just two points behind Florida with a game in hand, continued their strong play last week, notching consecutive wins against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings after falling to the Carolina Hurricanes by a score of 3–1 on 3/30. Carolina missed the chance to close the gap on Tampa Bay by going 1–2 last week and still sit in third place in the division with 53 points.
The drop off in the Central is pretty steep after the top three, and it will be a dog fight for that fourth playoff spot between the Nashville Predators, Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars and Columbus Blue Jackets (Detroit’s playoff hopes seem close to unattainable at this point.) Nashville and Dallas had strong weeks, picking up six and five points, respectively. Meanwhile, Chicago and Columbus only managed to pick up two points each, going 1–3 on the week. Here are the standings heading into next week:
East Division
Similar to the Central, the NHL’s East Division currently stands with three teams fighting closely for position and a drop off, where several teams will be competing for the final playoff spot. The Washington Capitals maintained their position as the division leader, going 2–2 on the week and standing currently at 54 points. The second-place New York Islanders, who currently stand just two points behind Washington, had a strong week, going 3–1 — and proving doubters wrong as they continue their strong play without their captain, Anders Lee, who suffered a season-ending knee injury on March 11. Keep an eye on the Islanders during the trade deadline, too, as they are in the buyer’s market this season. The Pittsburgh Penguins, who currently sit at third in the East with 50 points, went 2–1 this week, as they also continue to play great hockey.
The Boston Bruins, on the the other hand, have begun to slide a bit as the season’s midway point recently passed. The team who once led the division by a wide margin is now fighting for that fourth playoff spot with the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers, who have both begun to heat up in recent weeks after slow starts to the season. The Bruins picked up four points this week, splitting their four games with a 2–2 record, while the Flyers and Rangers each picked up three. The race in the East should be a fun one as the season comes to a close. Here are the current standings heading into next week:
West Division
The NHL West division features a Colorado Avalanche team that is among the league’s best. Sitting atop the division with 54 points, the team went a perfect 4–0 last week and have gone 8–0–2 in their last ten games. Their top line of Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog is absolutely lethal and have combined for 48 goals and 122 points this season. They also have a young star in Cale Makar on defense, who took home last year’s Calder Memorial Trophy for the best rookie in the NHL. This team is a certified Stanley Cup contender and likely will be for years to come. That said, the Vegas Golden Knights are not far behind Colorado, sitting in second with 50 points. However, Vegas has not been great lately, finishing 1–2–1 and notching just three points last week after suffering losses to the Los Angeles Kings and consecutive losses to the Minnesota Wild on April 1 and April 3.
The Knights will have to pick it back up, as this division is a little more tight behind Colorado. The Wild sit just two points behind them, and with the Arizona Coyotes and the San Jose Sharks picking up their play lately, the division race could be closer than it appears as the season drags on. Here are the standings of the NHL West division heading into next week:
North Division
Finally, we’ll wrap up this recap with arguably the most fun division to watch in hockey this year, the NHL North Division. It’s never happened before that we’ve been lucky enough to watch a division featuring all Canadian teams, but due to COVID-19 international travel restrictions, fans have been blessed with old-school, hard-nose hockey every night from these teams.
First, let’s talk about the Vancouver Canucks. The team was sidelined on April 2 after a number of COVID cases within the team became public.
https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/1378006902521618433?s=20
For this reason, their games against the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers on March 31 and April 3 have been postponed.
The Toronto Maple Leafs continued to roll last week, going 2–1 and adding to their season total of 53 points. They still sit atop the West Division and are comfortably six points ahead of the second-place Edmonton Oilers and third-place Winnipeg Jets, both of which have 47 points with no games in hand. Winnipeg suffered two losses to Toronto last week but managed to get a point in the second game in a 2–1 shootout loss.
Edmonton picked up a win against the Maple Leafs on March 29 and then went 1–1 in their next two games, falling to the Montreal Canadiens on March 30 and defeating the Calgary Flames on April 2. Again, their scheduled game against Vancouver for April 3 was postponed, so it will be interesting to see how many games the Canucks will have to make up in the season’s final weeks. The Canadiens currently hold a six point lead over the Canucks and the Flames for the fourth playoff spot, and if the Canucks are sidelined several weeks, it could be very tough for them to climb back into the race. I expect Calgary to give them a fight, but the fact that Montreal has been skating well lately and currently have five games in hand over the Flames, I have them penciled in to take the final playoff spot in the North. Here are the current standings heading into next week:
Come back next week for more weekly divisional coverage as well as NHL trade deadline news.
