Wings Year In Review, Part I: From Down To Up and How Relevant This Season Actually Was

By Adam W Parks


Detroit's blistering finish to the regular season has been highly publicized and discussed from media outlets local and national. But how good was it really? And how does this almost "down" season compare with the great and relevant teams of recent years past?

The Red Wings have not only looked like the Red Wings of old in recent weeks, they have looked better. To illustrate, here is a breakdown of Detroit's season into four quarters.

1. First 20 games of season: 10-6-4, 24 points, .500 winning percentage.
2. Next 20 games: 10-8-2, 22, .500
3. Next 21 games: 8-7-6, 22 points, .381
4. Last 21 games (since NHL play resumed from the Olympics break): 16-3-2, 34 points, .762

That final stretch has been unbelievable and unbelievably enjoyable to watch. What is crazy about that run is if you subtract eight points from that total of 34, four wins from that total of 16, the Wings would still have attained their best quarter of the season but would not have made the playoffs. That is how necessary and important each of those wins were!

Detroit just barely managed to earn 100 points for the tenth straight season, but get this--they only had ten less points than last season, which has been the measuring stick for this season all along.

This group of Wings accumulated only 13 points less than that great 2007-08 Stanley Cup team, and just 14 less than that Hall of Fame, 2001-02 Stanley Cup team that Mitch Albom referred to as "the best team-ever". Not too "down" of a season in comparison, eh?

This is even more interesting...I was shocked to look back and see this. If you go back to the 1990s, back to the back-to-back Stanley Cup seasons, the Wings earned just one more point in 1997-98 than this season! They earned eight less than in 1996-97!

Are you freaking kidding me? That squad was my favorite roster of all time and will no doubt go down in my books as the greatest Red Wings team that I will ever see! I broke down that 96-97 season into quarters too, check this out.

1. 11-7-2 (2 ties), 24 points
2. 9-6-5, 23 points
3. 10-6-5, 25 points
4. 8-7-6, 22 points

A very consistent, if not outstanding season, and very similar to this year in the first 61 games with 72 points then and 68 now. With 94 points, the 1996-97 Wings were the third seed in the Western Conference. With 94 points the 2009-10 Wings would not even make the playoffs!

So, in case you're just tuning in, that final run was huge, and this season has been special!

I hate to call this guy out again, but someone commented on one of my Facebook posts that the Wings are not "relevant" this year. What the guy probably meant is, "The NHL regular season doesn't matter, and if the Wings aren't in the hunt then what's the point in paying attention to hockey?" I understand this mentality, and I hate it. It reeks of fan entitlement and the Red Wings' band-wagon ride. I also understand that for a lot of people, hockey is a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth sport. That's fine. But how can anyone living in Michigan say that the Red Wings are irrelevant when the football team goes 2-30 in the past two seasons and gets more coverage and draws more fan attention with an offseason free agency signing? Don't get me wrong! I follow the damn Lions' every move too! Relevance!

Sorry for the digression, but I'm not quite done. I don't normally discuss teams and seasons in which my only frames of reference are statistics and stories, but could this be the most relevant Red Wings regular season since 1983-84 when a rookie by the name of Steve Yzerman revived the "Dead" Wings. I don't know, I can't say, I was only two/three years old during that season.

Has this regular season been more relevant than Scotty Bowman's second season in 1995-96? Do you remember what made that season so relevant besides the birth of the Colorado rivalry? Does 62 wins ring a bell. An NHL record jog your memory? Pretty damn relevant, but where was the controversy, the struggle, the adversity to make it so compelling?

The second installment of my Year In Review will be posted soon!

Peace

The West Is The Best! More First Round Predictions

By Adam W Parks

Once again the point totals in the Western Conference destroy those in the East. Check this out:

The Capitols won the Presidents Trophy with a disgusting 121 points, but only three other teams from the East broke the century mark. Seven squads hit triple digits in the West.

Ottawa, the fifth seed in the East with 94 points, would not even make the playoffs if they were located in Manitoba instead of Ontario. The third-seeded Sabres (100) would land behind Nashville for the eighth and final spot if they played in Bmidji, Minnesota (that one's for you, Al and Darnold). Pittsburgh (101, fourth seed) would have to rely on a tiebreaker just to get ahead of Los Angeles in the standings.

It's not just the playoff teams in the West that are superior. Dallas finished the season 12th in the conference, but tied Philadelphia with 88 points. Hell, Anaheim (89) would have been the seventh seed if they were located in Maine instead of California. It's simply pathetic that neither team from New York City, especially the Rangers, could claw their way into the playoffs. And how about that proud franchise in Toronto, finishing last in the conference with 74 points. So sad. Poor Canada.

The Western Conference playoff teams are frightenly good from top to bottom, and they are all led by outstanding goaltenders. Here are the starting goalies in order of their team's playoff position:

1. Evgeni Nabokov (San Jose)
2. Antti Niemi (Chicago)
3. Roberto Luongo (Vancouver)
4. Ilya Bryzgalov (Phoenix)
5. Jimmy "The Deal" Howard (Hockeytown)
6. Jonathan Quick (Los Angeles)
7. Pekka Rinne (Nashville)
8. Craig Anderson (Colorado)

These guys are all amazing puck stoppers and in many cases (Brygalov, Howard, Quick, Rinne, Anderson) they are MVPs of their teams. With goaltending like that, any team could upset any team, but I only see one actually happening: Anderson and the Avalanche against the Sharks.

With six teams fighting for playoff spots on Sunday, San Jose sat at home and watched the top seed fall to them, thanks to the Wings! With 113 points, the shaky Sharks are the team with home advantage that is most likely to be bounced in the first round. Yes the Avalanche tanked towards the end of the season (three wins in last 13 games), but the Sharks are notorious for blundering away great regular season numbers once they get into the playoffs.

The key to this matchup will be goaltending. Nabokov was nabawful for Russia in the Olympics and owns a not-so-sweet 32-31 record in the NHL playoffs. If Anderson can play like he did in the first 75% of the season, the Avalanche will win this series. I'm betting he does and they do.

Colorado could have made things a great deal easier on the Red Wings if they would have just held onto their one goal lead against the Kings on Sunday. The various scenarios between the Wings and Kings and the seeds in the West made my head hurt (more). As I watched the Wings lose their one goal lead to Chicago, Los Angeles tied things up, and then won in overtime.

Colorado probably lost on purpose! Damn Avalanche! The Wings rule! Get over it!

Quick finished the season sixth in the league with 39 wins and will match up against Canada's golden turd, Luongo, who sits at fifth in the NHL with 40 wins. LUUU led his Canucks to a Northwest Division title and the third seed in the West. Quickie has carried his team on his pads all season, getting 72 starts out of LA's 82 games, but I cannot fathom him out-dueling Luongo. Nor can I imagine the Kings out-scoring the Canucks,

Vancouver has too much fire power with 272 goals scored this season, good for second in the NHL. AND girls look really good in their jerseys. Los Angeles will have to be perfect on offense, perfect on defense, and Quick will have to look as good in goal as this chick does in order to win this series. If their 4-3-3 record over the last ten contests is any indicator, they will not find perfection in four out of seven games. LUUU will get Dank-couver to round two.

Like Vancouver, Nashville watched the action on Sunday, but unlike the Canucks, the Predators were in danger of losing ground in the standings. Nashville was tied with Detroit and one point ahead of LA before the games on Sunday, and if the Wings and Kings would have lost, the Preds held the tiebreaker over both for the fifth seed. Instead they sat idly by, slipped to seventh, and must now face Chicago who assumed the second seed position (demonstrated here by Jonathan Toews).

The Hawks needed the win against Detroit in order to have locked up the top seed in the West. Sucks for them!



It was a hostile, pressure packed environment for the Wings and an emotional game for Chicago. Former Blackhawk Eddie Olczyk was honored before the puck drop. All of the Hawks players gave the jerseys off their backs to a group of lucky fans after the game. The Hyatt Regency of Chicago even bestowed upon the team a chocolate statue for the team's tremendous season...I'm for super cereal on this one. Congratulations on winning second place in the conference! Have some dessert! I guess a life-size sculpted chocolate hockey player is an appropriate gift for the Blackhawks. I mean, girls do love chocolate, right?

The Hawks should not have much trouble against Nashville as long as Antti Niemi keeps playing well and the girls can get the puck past Pekka Rinne. Niemi has only faced the Predators one time out of the teams' six meetings this season, and he allowed four goals in a win.

If the goaltending is a stalemate, this series could be won from the blue-liners. Can Shea Weber and Dan Hamhuis shut down Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, and Toews? Will Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook be able to handle Patric Hornqvist, Steve Sullivan, and Martin Erat? Okay, so the bulk of the pressure will be on Nashville's defense, but their roster is full of capable and opportunistic scorers like Jason Arnott, David Legwand, and J.P. Dumont. The Hawks, still a young team, will have to limit their mistakes because the Preds will make them pay.

That said, Chi-Town will move on to the second round and keep those dreams of unicorns and princesses floating around in their fairy tale season. Enjoy your chocolate now, ladies. Your Stanely Cup drought will continue.

There always seems to be a surprise team to get an upset and make a run in the NHL playoffs. You know, that team that nobody wants to pick but everybody says, "Don't be surprised...but I just can't see it happening." I guess Colorado is that team for me, even though I'll be rooting against them every step of the way.

That wraps up my Western Conference predictions and previews. Have I forgotten a series? More to come...

Peace

First Round Predictions: Eastern Conference

By Adam W Parks

Sunday was not just a great day for Hockeytown, it was a great day for hockey. Heading into the afternoon games, six of the possible eight playoff seeds were unsettled in the Western Conference, and five were unsecured in the East. The final day of the regular season had the look, feel, and intensity of the first day of the playoffs.

Here's a little review of Sunday's action, and preview the playoff matchups in the East:

The Washington Capitols are the clear-cut favorite finishing with 121 points; that's 18 more than the next best (New Jersey 103) and eight more than the Presidents Trophy runner-up (San Jose 107).

The Caps had nothing to play for yesterday against the Boston Bruins but still unleashed Alex Ovechkin (who scored 50 goals this season despite a nail sticking out of his head) in an attempt to get their super star the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy for most goals on the season. The Caps lost in a shootout, Ovie was shutout, and Cry-sby (51) gets to share the award with super sophomore Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Washington is an obvious pick over Montreal in the first round. The Canadians (idle) fell to eighth in the standings after Philly bounced the Rangers (if the Rangers would have beat Philly, Montreal would have been the seventh seed with the tiebreaker over New York). I like the Canadians as a team, but they're just shit-outta-luck with this one.

The game was as meaningless for the Bruins as it was for the Caps as Boston sat snug ahead of both Montreal and Philadelphia despite Sunday's outcomes. However, for a team that has faced nearly as much injury woes as Detroit (ie Marc Savard on a stretcher)--and a similar veteran/rookie goalie controversy--their win over Washington was major for momentum. I like the Bruins, a lot, but not to get past Buffalo in the first round.

It's hard to say that Buffalo has had a disappointing season with 45 wins and 100 points, but with Ryan Miller in net more must be expected. I'm a Sabres fan going back to Pat LaFontaine, Dominik Hasek, Brad May and Rob Ray, but Buffalo is seriously overrated this season. They are lucky to have drawn the banged-up Bruins, and if it weren't for Miller, I would take Boston and rookie goalie Tuukka Rask in a long, ugly series.

The Sabres had an opportunity to snag the coveted second seed from the Devils on Sunday but could not stay out of their own way as the Devils scored a power play goal with only three seconds left in the game to win 2-1. As great as Miller is, his team cannot give the opposition three power plays in the last ten minutes of the game. These penalties were lazy too: Tyler Ennis-tripping, Steve Montador-holding, Mike Grier-holding. Inexcusable!

With the win over the Sabres on Sunday the Devils will face the Orange Mush from Philadelphia. The Flyers are a bad joke; their only saving grace is how poorly the fan base treats Sidney Crosby.

They traded away their future for Chris Pronger, banking on the big, dumb defenseman to help make a run for the Atlantic Division title. Instead they got atrocious goaltending, spotty goal-scoring, finished third in the division behind New Jersey and Pittsburgh, and needed a shootout victory on Sunday just to drag their asses into the playoffs.



As pumped up as I was for the Wings/Hawks game, I really wanted to watch the Rangers/Flyers game as well. Both teams hate each other, both sat at 86 points going into Sunday's game, and both were playing for the final playoff berth. It was essentially a game seven matchup; the biggest loser goes home.

Shame on the Rangers for continuing to suck and allowing the suckier Flyers to get in. But don't blame Henrik Lundqvist, he stopped 46 of the 47 shots he faced. Blame management for not giving Marian Gaborik an elite center to work with.

Anyway, the Flyers will get destroyed by the Devils in the first round...and I hope it's a sweep.

If the Devils would have lost that game without earning an overtime point, then the Penguins would have jumped in and stolen the division and grabbed the third seed. Crosby and company needed six goals and overtime to put away the Islanders on Sunday and will have to face the Senators (idle) in the four/five matchup in the first round.

This is a dangerous opening series for the defending Stanley Cup douche bags. Pittsburgh is not as good as the media thinks they are (the Wings finished with more points!), and Ottawa is either really good or really bad depending on the streak. Yet another rookie goalie, Brian Elliot, started the final nine of the Senators' 11-game winning streak back in January/early February, and also earned every victory in a six-game stretch in March/early April.

Do I think Ottawa can beat Pittsburgh in a seven-game series? Sure. Do I believe that they will? No.

Did I really pick the top four seeds to win their respective opening round series? Yup, I guess I did, because the bottom four teams are so inferior that they alll have less points than the eighth seed (Colorado) in the Western Conference.

Peace.

No, I have Not Forgot About Howard!

By Adam W Parks

If you have been following Lamp The Light lately you might have noticed that I made no mention of Detroit's goaltending during my Year In Review blogs. Though if you have been following me all season you know how much I'm in love with Jimmy "The Deal" Howard.

The Western Conference Playoffs is overflowing with talented and dominant goalies, though only two (Evgeni Nabokov and Roberto Luongo) have any substantial playoff experience. In fact, the only other goalie that has played in the NHL playoffs is Ilya Bryzgalov. Wait a minute, that can't be right...can it?

I checked with my statistician and...yup! Confirmed! That's incredible! Five different Western Conference goalies are making their NHL Playoffs debuts this season!

Nashville's Pekka Rinne, age 27, used to terrorize the Grand Rapids Griffins for three seasons in Milwaukee and took the Admirals to AHL Playoffs in each season.

Antti Niemi (26) as emerged over Cristobal Huet as the Blackhawks' starting guy, and outside of international play in Finland, he only has two AHL Playoff games with the Rockford Icehogs under his pads.

Jonathan Quick (24) was the third goalie chosen for the 2010 USA Olympics team, but he has played in only one playoff game in his post-peewee career (Manchester Monarchs, AHL).

At 28, Craig Anderson is the "Old Balls" of this bunch. He has the most NHL experience--appearing in games in seven seasons with three different teams--though he spent his previous years with some bad Blackhawks and Panthers teams (at least he had some nice scenery in Florida). Anderson does have eight playoff appearances between the OHL and the AHL with the Norfolk Admirals.

Howard (26) played in 30 playoff games in three of his four seasons with the Griffins. His AHL Playoff record stands at 12-17. Not that impressive, though neither was his overall career in Grand Rapids. That was then. This is now.

Howard V Bryzgalov will showcase two of the best and hottest young goaltenders in the NHL.

BRYZ FOR VEZ?

The mantle may have been passed for Russia's top puck-stopper after Nabokov's poor performance at the Olympics and Bryzgalov's breakout NHL season. The Coyotes hiked up their dresses to play the Cinderella role all season long. They locked up the fourth seed in the West with 107 points, good for third best in the conference and fourth in the league.

Phoenix was dying in the desert a year ago. Bankruptcy and a not-so-great run with part-owner Wayne Gretzky as head coach had the Coyotes choking on sand. The team literally had to be saved by Gary Bettman and the NHL.

Bryzgalov (29) has been as essential to his team's turnaround as rotting carrion is to a coyote's survival.



Here are Bryzzy's stats on the season:

GAMES PLAYED IN--69--7th in the NHL
WINS--42--3rd
SAVE %--.920--9th
GOALS AGAINST AVERAGE--2.29--6th
SHUTOUTS--8--2nd

Those numbers cry Vezina Trophy nomination. Phoenix captain Shane Doan believes his goalie is deserving of the hardware and capable of carrying the Coyotes deep into the playoffs:

"We think we have the best goalie in the league right now, so we think our goaltending is an advantage to us."

Doan is not dumb. Bryzgalov might just be the best goalie in the league. Plus he has appeared in 16 NHL Playoff games with a 9-5 record during two runs with the Anaheim Ducks behind Jean-Sebastian Giguere. He has a Stanley Cup ring. He wants another one, though this time he ain't no backup.

THE DEAL

I started calling Jimmy Howard "The Deal" early this season soon after he stepped in for a flu-ridden Chris Osgood. Watching him in Grand Rapids, he never impressed me all that much. I figured the Wings would keep bringing in the Ty Conklins of the league and Howard would eventually be released. Honestly!

It was November, 2009, when Howard flipped my entire perception of him. In eight starts Howie went 6-2-0 and allowed less than three goals in five games. I remember saying to a friend, "Wow! Howard is the real deal!" The Wings moved forward from there and Ozzy watched from the bench as his job was lost before his and our eyes. The rest is history, wrapped up nicely in this video. (You may want to mute your monitor, the song is unfortunate.)



The Deal! Howie is deceptively quick; he moves around in the crease like liquid. He has tremendous confidence when facing a shooter and when things get thick in front. And he has the best glove my eyes have ever seen on the hand of a Wings' goalie.

Check Howard's numbers and compare them to Bryzgalov's:

GAMES PLAYED IN--63--11th
WINS--37--8th
SAVE %--.924--4th
GAA--2.26--5th
SHUTOUTS--3--20th

The only category that Bryzzy has a substantial advantage over Howie is shutouts! Howard should be a lock for the Calder Trophy for best rookie, but he should also be in discussions for the Vezina!

Yet, as all of us know, the playoffs are an entirely different car grill full of dead Coyotes. We cannot be sure what to expect from Howard once the puck drops tonight. Mike Babcock understands this:

“It’s not like a playoff game until it’s a playoff game. You never know what’s between a guy’s ears until he’s been through it and survived."

Although the Wings have already faced a high volume of intense pressure just in the regular season, and Howard has thrived in the atmosphere thus far.

“The crowd’s going to be into it, the buildings are going to be loud, it’s going to be a lot of fun," Howard said. “I’ve been in pressure situations, I enjoy it."

Howie seems unflappable, and his upbeat humbleness is so refreshing:

“Plus, I got a great partner in Ozzie. I’m sure he’s going to be giving me little tidbits here and there about situations."

I love this guy! This is the product of four years spent wallowing in the minors. Howard, at least to this point, seems to have the perfect, loose, team-first orientation that it takes for a goalie to become a great regular season player to a star in the playoffs.

Let's @#$%ing Go Howie!

Peace

This Is The End...

By Adam W Parks

Well all my beautiful friends, today the NHL regular season ends, and plenty of playoff seeds (and one berth) hang in the balance in both the Eastern and Western Conferences (see Rangers @ Flyers).

The Wings hit 100 points for the tenth straight season on Friday with a 1-0 shootout win over Columbus. The victory lofted Detroit into the fifth spot, but a loss to the Hawks today could drop them down to the seventh seed.

Chicago is riding a six game winning streak, and a seventh against Detroit would clinch the top spot in the West.

The Predators finished their impressive season with a shootout win last night against the Blues to tie the Wings in points. The Kings fell to the Oilers in a shootout, but the point earned in the loss kept them within one of Detroit. Los Angeles is in Colorado this afternoon.

Here is what the West looks like before the games today:

1. San Jose--113 points--0 games remaining
2. Chicago--111--1
3. Vancouver--103--0
4. Phoenix--107--0
5. Detroit--100--1
6. Nashville--100--0
7. Los Angeles--99--1
8. Colorado--94--1

Here is a breakdown of all the possible playoff scenarios based on all the possible outcomes for today:

Detroit Wins

If the Wings beat the Hawks then they will clinch the fifth seed and would play Phoenix in the first round. The Coyotes split the four-game season series with Detroit but needed overtime in each of their wins.

Ilya Bryzgalov is an incredible goalie, the best in the West in this writer's opinion, and has the potential to win a playoff series on his own. However he has not displayed dominance over Detroit. He gave up a total of 13 goals in the series and has yet to face a fully healthy Wings roster.

The fifth seed is ideal because you always want to finish as high in the standings as possible, but something scares me about the Coyotes.

Detroit Loses In Overtime/Shootout

In this scenario the Wings could still clinch the fifth spot, but they would need the Kings to lose. If Los Angeles gets two points then the teams would be tied with 101 points and the tiebreaker would be in favor of the Kings.

The Wings have an ugly-ass amount of overtime/shootout losses with 14. There are only three other teams in the league that have as many or more, and each is eliminated from playoff contention: Toronto (14), Dallas (14), Columbus (15). Why is this important? The first criteria for the tiebreaker is total wins, and the Wings have just 43 to LA's 45.

So, if the Kings win and the Wings only earn a point, Detroit will land in the sixth spot and face Vancouver. The Canucks are a scary team with all of that offense. Only Washington (315) has scored more goals than 'Couver (272) this season (the Wings scored 226). Roberto Luongo has not been stellar this season, but he does have Olympic gold confidence.

But like Bryzgalov, the Wings have been able to put plenty of pucks past Luongo. Detroit scored 15 goals in three wins and one loss against Vancouver this season. I like this matchup, but the Sedin brothers, Ryan Kesler, Alex Burrows, and the familiar Mikael Samuelsson (30 goals this season) are deadly. The pressure would fall on Jimmy Howard for the Wings to get past the Canucks.

Wings Lose In Regulation

This scenario would also depend on what the Kings do. If both Detroit and LA lose in regulation, then the Wings would place sixth and play Vancouver since Nashville (47 wins) also holds the tiebreaker edge over the Wings.

Say the the Kings earn at least one point. Detroit would then slip all the way to seventh place. There they would have the second place Sharks served up on a platter. San Jose has been just as hot as the Wings over their last ten games (8-1-1), but Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Dany Heatley, Dan Boyle, and Evgeni Nabokov do not seem as scary as they should.

The Sharks picked up just one win against Detroit this season, a shootout victory at The Joe back in February. The Wings played especially great inside the Shark Tank, winning two games by a combined score of 8-3. I would love to see Detroit matchup with San Jose in the first round, but I would hate to see it happen from a Wings loss today.

What an exciting Sunday! So much is riding on this last day of NHL play. This is the end! The West is the best! Get here, and we'll do the rest! The playoff bus...is calling us...

Peace.

And Then There Were Three...

By Adam W Parks

This is the final week of the NHL regular season. The Wings clinched themselves a playoff spot last week, but their position in the standings is as firm as waves in gravy.

With just three games left Detroit could finish as high as fifth or at the bottom in eighth. Currently, as of Wednesday morning, April 7, the Wings sit in seventh and would matchup against the Blackhawks in the first round of the playoffs.

Does Playoff Position Even Matter?

NHL talking heads and fans seem to agree that all of the top teams in the West are fearing a first round date with Detroit. Not only are the Wings healthy and playing their best hockey of the season right now, but they have arguably been the best team in the league after the Winter Olympics.

Despite all the injuries and scoring struggles in the first 75% of the season the Wings have faired very well against the top four teams in the conference. Detroit has earned seven out of a possible eight points against the Sharks (3-0-1), and six points from Vancouver (3-1-0) and Phoenix (2-0-2).

Their 2-2-1 against Chicago looks less than impressive at first glance, but those two regulation losses came when Detroit was down in the injury dumps. When healthy Detroit has the edge with two wins and a shootout loss.

A Perfect Matchup?

Ideally, this would be the best possible first round matchup. The Wings are more familiar with the Hawks and they would avoid the long travel to other far-western destinations like Arizona, California, and dumb-Canuckville. Plus, neither Cristobal Huet nor Antti Niemi look that impressive in net. I'd take Jimmy Howard to win four out of seven against those two losers.

It would be a perfect opening round series for the NHL too. If the season did indeed end with no change in the standings in either the West or the East, Detroit Vs Chicago would be the most attractive and intriguing opening round series in all of the playoffs. The story lines write themselves:

Two Original Sixers! A rematch of the 2009 Western Finals! Another chapter in the revitalized rivalry!

There are only two potential toppers to that in any 2010 playoff series: Pittsburgh Vs Washington in the Eastern Finals, or (dare I say?) a Stanley Cup 'Rubber Match'...

Be Careful What You Wish For

Alas, in order for this first round dream series to occur, we as Wings fans will have to hope for a very poor finish out of Hockeytown. Chicago (107) is two points behind San Jose for best in the West and has clinched at least the No. 2 seed.

Detroit lost back-to-back games to Nashville and Philadelphia on Saturday and Sunday respectively. Now they must climb over the Kings for the sixth seed before they can catch the Predators if they want to secure fifth place--the highest possible playoff position.

The Wings have the best chance to win-out the rest of the season with home and away games against Columbus tonight and Friday, and a season finale in Chicago on Sunday.

Los Angeles has two tough games out of their three remaining. They play host to Phoenix on Thursday and Edmonton on Saturday, and then finish out in Colorado on Sunday. Nashville only has two games left and both are potential pitfalls: in Phoenix tonight and at home Saturday against a Blues team that is playing like they haven't already been eliminated from the playoffs.

What is the worst case scenario here if the matchup and seed doesn't matter? As long as the Wings win two or all of these remaining games, I couldn't be happier with the way this regular season concludes.

Damn it feels good to discuss the potential scenarios after stressing slightly over the prospect of Detroit not making the postseason! Three more games before the playoffs! Let's see your @#$%ing beards! Let's throw some @#$%ing octopi! Let's @#$%ing go!

Peace