Today is massive. Teams #5-#10 in the East have between 86-88 points and all are in action today, none against each other, with start times in waves. Fighting for 4 spots. Recall the Wings need to beat 2 of those other 5 teams, with at least one of the two being Ottawa or Boston. In ( ) are pts Amand games remaining.
1pm ET
Ottawa (86,10) at Tampa
Florida at NYI (87,9)
5pm ET
Minnesota at Boston(88,10)
Dallas at Pittsburgh(88,10)
San Jose at Columbus (87,10)
8pm ET
Philadelphia at Detroit (86,10)
So all the five the other teams will have finished play before the Wings start their game. Tampa, Minnesota and Dallas might be the best hopes for doing the Wings a favour. Habs (90,11) have put some distance between them and the Wings but I am still cheering for Nashville to beat them to tighten things up.