NHL Playoff Picture: Blackhawks Fall Into Playoffs After Stars Lose To Wild

All the Dallas Stars needed to do on Sunday night was win their final game. Two points in any form but via the shootout would have elevated them over the Chicago Blackhawks and into the 2011 NHL playoffs, but the Minnesota Wild had other ideas.

The Wild held on to a 4-3 third period lead before scoring an empty netter to officially end the Stars’ season. Dallas heads home with heartbreak on the mind, while the Blackhawks, likely watching together around a television in Chicagoland, collectively breathe a sigh of relief.

Should the Stars win in regulation or overtime, they’ll make the postseason over the defending Cup champion Blackhawks, but should the Wild win or should the game reach the shootout, Chicago will back their way into the postseason.

We’re here to help you decide who you want to root for in this game, which has been picked up for national viewing on NHL Network at 6 p.m. Eastern.

That game, the last one on the schedule in this 2010-11 NHL regular season, begins at 6 p.m. Eastern. Simply put, Chicago did not take care of their business today. They needed one point to qualify and failed to do it, and now they’ll sit and sweat as the Wild and Stars hold their season in the balance.

Outside of this matchup, though, all the other playoff matchups are set. In the West, Vancouver will host either Dallas or Chicago, San Jose will host Los Angeles, Detroit will take on Phoenix, and Anaheim will have home ice edge against Nashville.

Aside from some jockeying for position, the season-long incredulity of the Western Conference playoff picture is finally diminishing. There’s only one position still up for grabs, and that’s between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Dallas Stars.

Chicago holds the advantage with 97 points in the No. 8 position, while Dallas sits two points back in the No. 9 position. Dallas obviously needs to win their game on Sunday night in Minnesota to have a chance, but if Chicago beats Detroit earlier on Sunday afternoon, that game won’t even matter. If the Blackhawks earn even one point, Dallas cannot qualify for the postseason.

Well, it is all finished in the Eastern Conference, we have our playoff match-ups. This comes after the New York Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils 5-2, and the Carolina Hurricanes lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2. The Rangers are in, the Hurricanes for the second time in four seasons, are out in their final game of the campaign.

Also, the Flyers, Canadiens and Sabres were victorious tonight, meaning that all the seeds will stay in their prior place. Here are your 2011 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal match-ups:

Let’s quickly run down the playoff picture scenarios in the Eastern Conference on this Saturday, the day before the 2011 NHL regular season comes to a close.

The New York Rangers need at least one point in their final game against the New Jersey Devils to have even a hope of making the postseason. If they earn one point, they need Carolina to lose in regulation to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night. If Carolina earns two points against the Bolts, it’s all over for the Rangers no matter what happens.

A few things have been settled in the race for the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Friday night before the late games get going. One team has clinched, one is a period away from doing so, and one more can clinch late tonight.

Everyone in the early games appears to either have taken care of or are taking care of business. First off, the Sabres came back to tie the Philadelphia Flyers on a highlight reel goal by Nathan Gerbe (who tallied twice). Then they got the winner in overtime, as Thomas Vanek cashed in at 1:16 of the extra period. The Sabres have now clinched a post-season berth. They can move as high as sixth in the conference if they beat the Blue Jackets in Columbus tomorrow and Montreal loses to Toronto.

As it turns out, the Atlanta Thrashers are going to have a big say about which team wins the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Their win on Thursday night over the New York Rangers shifted the balance of power around the No. 8 seed in the East, putting control of that spot into the hands of the No. 9 Carolina Hurricanes.

Here’s how it stands on Friday morning. The Hurricanes have two games remaining, one Friday and one Saturday. They trail the Rangers by two points for that No. 8 seed, but the Rangers only have one game remaining, on Saturday against New Jersey. Carolina holds the second tiebreaker and is positioned to take the first tiebreaker with one regulation win.

The Carolina Hurricanes are the only team in the Eastern Conference that still has a shot at knocking one of the top eight teams out of the postseason picture, thanks to their Wednesday night win over the Detroit Red Wings. Well, mostly thanks to Cam Ward, but we’ll digress.

The big win gave the Hurricanes two big points in the standings, enough to keep them within two of the New York Rangers. Had they lost the game, their tragic number would have fallen to just a single point. Now, it’s still firm at three points, and with a Rangers loss on Thursday night against the Atlanta Thrashers, the door could open for the Canes.

Wednesday was a big night in the Western Conference playoff picture, as one team clinched, two teams seriously helped their cause and one team officially fell off the map despite a huge win over a big rival.

Speaking of Dallas, Wednesday wasn’t a great night for them. They were idle and sitting by their televisions, but wins by No. 7 Anaheim and No. 8 Chicago trimmed their playoff hopes a bit. Had even one of those teams lost, the Stars would have been in a position to pull even with them in the standings Thursday.

The run is over, Toronto Maple Leafs fans. Thanks to your team’s shootout loss to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night, combined with Buffalo’s win over Tampa Bay, the playoffs are officially out of reach. Better luck next year.

Tuesday was a big night in the 2011 NHL playoff picture, so let’s get right to all the games and what they meant for... well, just about everybody that matters right now. A team-by-team breakdown:

There are nine games around the NHL on Tuesday night, and seven of them will impact the 2011 playoff picture. Let’s just get right to it, shall we?

All times Eastern.

All they needed was a win, maybe by just a goal or two, to clinch the Pacific Division. The San Jose Sharks clearly didn’t want to chance it, though, as they rolled all over the Kings, 6-1, to clinch the title and a top-3 seed in the 2011 NHL playoffs. The Sharks still have a magic number of six points to clinch the No. 2 seed over the Detroit Red Wings, a race that will surely come down to the wire with three games remaining.

As a result of the game, here’s where we stand in the Western Conference.

There are two games on the NHL schedule on Monday night, and both of them will have a rather large impact on the 2011 playoff picture. Up first, the New York Rangers take on the Boston Bruins at 7:30 p.m. Eastern. The game is on Versus in the United States.

In the late game at 10 p.m. Eastern, also on Versus, San Jose can clinch the Pacific Division with a victory over the Los Angeles Kings. Two points will lift them to 103 on the season, putting them out of reach of both the Kings and the Phoenix Coyotes. A win will also keep the Sharks ahead of the Detroit Red Wings in the race for the 2-seed out West. San Jose holds the edge over Detroit thanks to their one game-in-hand. That game comes tonight.

There are two games on the NHL schedule on Monday night, and both of them will have a rather large impact on the 2011 playoff picture. The Bruins travel to New York to take on the Rangers at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on Versus.

Boston doesn’t have too much to play for at this point. They’ve already clinched the Northeast Division over the Montreal Canadiens, thus guaranteeing themselves a top-3 seed in the East. There’s an outside chance that they could pass Philadelphia or Washington for the 2-seed or even the 1-seed in the Conference, but a win on Monday night would only pull them within two points with three games left. It’s possible, but they would need some help.

Heading into the weekend, there was a very real chance that the Detroit Red Wings could fall out of the Central Division title. Two games and four points later, and the Red Wings have that nice little Y next to their name in the standings. It’s not a big deal or anything -- just the ninth time in 10 years that’s happened.

By virtue of their win over rival Nashville in overtime on Saturday, the Wings had a chance to clinch the title with a win in against lowly Minnesota on Sunday. That was probably a foregone conclusion.

It’s a big day in the NHL’s Eastern Conference playoff picture. All three bubble teams, the 9th-place Carolina Hurricanes, the 8th-place Carolina Hurricanes and the 7th-place Buffalo Sabres, are in action, and depending on the outcomes, we could see a whole lot of movement in those spots.

The Rangers are up first with a big game against a big rival, the Philadelphia Flyers. With a regulation loss, the Rangers will put themselves in a position to be passed by the Hurricanes, who sit just one point back of them in the race.

We don’t know exactly what will happen, but we can safely say that the NHL playoff picture will change following Saturday’s 11 games. Here’s a look at all of those games that have serious playoff implications.

All times Eastern.

Magic numbers in hockey are complicated. With a point system that doesn’t give the same value to every single game played, you can’t calculate magic numbers in terms of games. Instead, we have to calculate them in terms of points.

Below, you can see the current magic numbers for each team above eighth-place in either the Eastern or Western Conference as we prepare for Friday’s NHL action. These numbers represent any combination of the number of points gained by the team or the number of points lost by the closest competitor.

For the first time since 2007, the Tampa Bay Lightning are headed back to the postseason. By virtue of their 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night, a four-year long nightmare for the organization has come to an end, and the page can officially be turned on an old era.

SB Nation’s Raw Charge explains:

Magic numbers in hockey are complicated. With a point system that doesn’t give the same value to every single game played, you can’t calculate magic numbers in terms of games. Instead, we have to calculate them in terms of points.

Below, you can see the current magic numbers for each team above eighth-place in either the Eastern or Western Conference as we prepare for Wednesday’s NHL action. These numbers represent any combination of the number of points gained by the team or the number of points lost by the closest competitor.

ALREADY IN

East: No. 1 Philadelphia Flyers (76 GP, 102 pts), No. 2 Washington Capitals (77 GP, 99 pts), No. 3 Boston Bruins (76 GP, 96 pts), No. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins (77 GP, 98 pts)

For the fifth straight season, the Boston Bruins are headed to the postseason. Thanks to their 2-1 win over the Eastern-leading Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night, the Bruins clinched a berth in the postseason. They’re the fourth team in the East to clinch a spot so far, joining the Flyers, Capitals and Penguins in the playoff dance.

The win was more than just a nice culmination to a pretty strong regular season for the Bruins, though. It lifted them two more points further from the Montreal Canadiens, who have seriously struggled over the last week. The Bruins crushed them, 7-0, on Thursday night, and even since, the teams have been on two drastically different paths.

ALREADY IN

East: No. 1 Philadelphia Flyers (73 GP, 98 pts), No. 2 Washington Capitals (75 GP, 96 pts)

The Western Conference NHL standings have been a jumbled mess almost all season long, but as we enter the final 10 games of the regular season and the 2011 playoff picture comes into clearer focus, we can try to get an idea of how many points teams will need to make the cut.

Well, sort of. We’ll let Quisp at SB Nation’s Kings blog, Jewels From The Crown, explain things.