NHL Weekend Playoff Odds: Tense Battles Define the Race for Postseason Glory

Wild Card Races: Hot in Both Conferences

NHL Weekend In Review – April 7th & 8th, 2023

The Final Week in the NHL Regular Season is finally here, with 13 of the 16 spots for the Stanley Cup Playoffs reserved, there are just five nights left for five teams to capture the final three spots. Let’s take a deeper look at some of the action over Saturday and Sunday involving teams fighting for playoff positioning and NHL scores games in the review in this NHL Weekend Playoff Odds from over the weekend

Eastern Conference Wild Card

Florida Panthers – 42-31-7, 91 Points with 2 games left
New York Islanders – 41-30-9, 91 Points with 2 games left
Pittsburgh Penguins – 40-30-10, 90 Points with 2 games left

The Carousel continues to rotate between these three clubs for the final two spots left in the Eastern Conference Wild Card race. On Saturday, All 32 National Hockey League teams played for the first time since adding the Seattle Kraken to the league two seasons ago.

The New York Islanders picked up a 4-0 win, shutting out the Philadelphia Flyers as large home favorites. Vezina Trophy hopeful Ilya Sorokin stopped all 27 shots faced for his sixth shutout of the season and 16th of his brief NHL career, which has lasted 69 games as of now.

Earlier that afternoon, the Pittsburgh Penguins grabbed two very important points to stay afloat in their quest for the final spot, beating the Detroit Red Wings 5-1. Captain Sidney Crosby scored two goals and added an assist, while Evgeni Malkin netted his 26th goal of the season. Goaltender Tristan Jarry made 19 saves on 20 shots faced for his 24th victory of the season and his third win in the last five starts where he has allowed one goal or fewer.

Forward Matthew Tkachuk scored the game-winning goal with exactly one minute in regulation before Sam Reinhart pots the empty-net goal to give the Florida Panthers a 4-2 win on the road against the Washington Capitals. Goalie Alex Lyon won his sixth consecutive start, with the 30-year-old netminder holding opponents to two goals or fewer in each start since being recalled from the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL on March 19th.

Western Conference Wild Card

x-Seattle Kraken – 45-26-8, 98 Points with 3 games left (x – Clinched Playoff Berth)
Winnipeg Jets – 44-32-3, 91 Points with 3 games left
Calgary Flames – 37-27-16, 90 Points with 2 games left

One of the two Wild Card spots in the Western Conference has been claimed after the Seattle Kraken beat the Arizona Coyotes 4-2 on Thursday night. They would move closer to the century mark in points after defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 7-3 on Saturday night.

Forwards Jared McCann and Jordan Eberle each scored a goal and an assist while Daniel Sprong netted his 21st goal of the year and chipped in a pair of assists while defenseman Jamie Oleksiak dished out three assists. Starting Goalie Martin Jones made 15 saves on 18 shots faced before leaving the game with a hand injury. Phillipp Grubauer stopped all eleven shots faced in relief during the third period. Jones’ injury status is unknown as of press time.

The Winnipeg Jets earned a big victory on Saturday, beating the Nashville Predators 2-0 and pushing the Preds one loss closer to being eliminated from playoff contention. Goalie Connor Hellebuyck made all 28 saves for his fourth shutout of the season, while forward Mark Scheifele scored his 40th goal of the year, marking his first 40-goal campaign in 12 seasons with the Jets.

After picking up a big regulation win over the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday night, the Calgary Flames would lose 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday night to the Vancouver Canucks, who played their final home game of the season. Forwards Elias Lindholm and Nazem Kadri each scored goals in the third period to force overtime.

Goalie Jacob Markstrom made 31 saves on 33 shots in regulation and overtime but the first shot he saw in the shootout from Vancouver speedster Andrei Kuzmenko trickled past the netminder, giving the Canucks the second point in the contest.

Both Calgary and Winnipeg play tonight, with the Flames hosting the Nashville Predators, who would be officially eliminated with a loss in this contest combined with a win from the Jets, who take on the lowly San Jose Sharks. Winnipeg holds the final Wild Card spot by one point and four more regulation wins than Calgary, who beat the Jets in two of their three meetings this season.

Check out all the updated National Hockey League NHL Standings, lineups, future odds, team stats, recent news picks and parlays, and betting tips, right here at Point Spreads.

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