lordstanley

OT win tonight by St. Louis over the Flyers. OK, I'll take it.

This was what I was afraid of. Devils could get a bump now. https://www.nhl.com/news/lindy-ruff-fired-by-new-jersey-devils Lindy Ruff was fired as coach of the New Jersey Devils on Monday. Associate coach Travis Green was named as his replacement. He will debut when the Devils host the Florida Panthers on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; BSFL, MSG). The Devils (30-27-4) are eight points behind the Detroit Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning, who are tied for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. New Jersey has a .484 points percentage (14-15-2) at home, which is 26th in the NHL.

Go Blues! At Philly tonight, at NYI tomorrow.

Kane was already with the Wings for the first Larkin injury, although Kompher and Perron were out.

I'd say the Wings' playoff chances at the 3/4 mark are roughly where the Lions' division title chances were at the 3/4 mark (just before the Denver game). Remember people were worried that the Lions could lose both games to the Vikings or the Packers could run the table? Sure, that was possible, so is the Wings missing. And I get people being worried when the playoffs haven't happened in years. But 60 games in, we have a good idea of what these teams are. The Wings are virtually safe. True, no one is ready to "book it" though.

Despite Mantha's 20th goal of the season, Caps drop a 5-2 game to Arizona, at home. Big loss for them. No one in the East has played themselves back into or close to a playoff spot recently. Devils are 5-5 in past 10, Pittsburgh 4-5-1, Islanders and Washington not bad at 5-3-2 but that can hardly be deemed a hot streak. Higher up near the Wings, Tampa and Philly have both gone 5-4-1.

Yeah, the Coyotes hanging on to their surprise 4-2 lead midway through the 3rd today would be a nice bonus. Buffalo has moved up to the fringes of the playoff race. 10 pts behind the Wings, same number of games played. Recent wins over Tampa and Vegas. May as well cheer for them to lose today in Winnipeg. But if the Sabres ever become a factor in the race, that would mean the Wings have far bigger problems.

I don't have high hopes for Arizona at Washington today. NJ plays the Kings and Pittsburgh uses another of their games in hand playing Edmonton.

Worst possible day so far. Wings lose. Philadelphia wins. Tampa wins. Toronto wins. NYI wins.

Florida is completely shutting down the Wings.

I’m not aware of a site that breaks down a team’s season performance by period, but it seems the Wings are not a good 2nd period team. 2-0 Florida after 2

Down 1-0, the Wings need to kill off this penalty with 9 minutes left in the 2nd. Nope, Florida scores with 2 seconds left in it.

Bobrovsky lost his stick while the Wings were on a powerplay, but the Wings couldn’t take advantage

Is it true that the Panthers obtained only two players on their roster - Ekblad and Barkov - through the draft?

Not often you see half a period with only one shot on goal each.

5 minutes in and the Wings have had a couple of golden chances, including put the puck into the net only to have it quickly and correctly waved off

Kicks off with a game against Florida at the LCA on Saturday afternoon. 9 of 14 games this month will be on the road.

Games to monitor Saturday March 2: Florida at Wings 3pm ET Ottawa at Philadelphia 7pm Montreal at Tampa 7pm NYR at Toronto 7pm Boston at NYI 730pm Pittsburgh at Calgary 10pm

Standings after games of March 1:

Crazy ending! Ducks basically had the game won until a Ducks player deliberately knocked the net off, giving Jack Hughes a penalty shot with 2 seconds off. But he blows it and doesn’t get a shot off! Despite 54 shots on net, the Devils lose in regulation and are 8 points behind the Wings at the 60 game mark. Give their regular season success last year, the Devils logically would seem the most likely of the stragglers to make a run, especially if they make a coaching change.

It’s time! Would love to see Anaheim upset NJ tonight. Devils have trailed 4-2 for awhile but just cut the margin to 4-3 With 3 minutes to go.

Wings trail 2-1 after 2. Not like they haven’t been in this situation before though.

Took the Lions 10 more years to win a playoff game after adding the WCF patch.

Chiarot stripped in the slot. 1-0 NYI.

I was going to type exactly that. Did kill off the NYI PP earlier without too much trouble, so I guess ok.