Blackhawks Reeling; Blue Jackets, Wild On Brink of Elimination

As the first week of Stanley Cup playoffs drew to a close, some teams that had pretty good regular season records were in danger of making quick exits from the post season.

The Chicago Blackhawks are the Number One seed in the Western Conference but they can’t do anything against the Nashville Predators. The Blackhawks were shut out twice at the United Center by the Predators, both times with Pekka Rinne in goal. Game 1 was a 1-0 nail biter but Nashville dominated in Game 2 by a score of 5-0. Nashville was only 17-20-4 on the road this season, but they will return home (where they were 24-9-8 this season) with a 2-0 series lead on a team that they were just 1-4 against during the regular season.

The Minnesota Wild had the second best record in the Western Conference with 106 points, but the team had an 8-10-2 record from March 2nd to the end of the season, with four of those victories in the last four regular season games against teams that failed to reach the playoffs. The St. Louis Blues surged near the end of the season, going 15-2-2 down the stretch. The Blues hot play has continued into the post season, and with a 3-0 series lead, St. Louis can eliminate Minnesota with a win on April 19th in St. Louis. Minnesota has scored just one goal in each of the three games.

Finally, the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins have pushed the Columbus Blue Jackets to the edge of elimination by taking a 3-0 lead in their series. The Penguins had 111 points, good for second place in the highly competitive Metropolitan Division, and the Blue Jackets were right behind with 108. But the young Blue Jackets were just 3-6-2 at the end of the season, and the playoff veteran Penguins can wrap it up with a win in Columbus on April 18th.