NHL wild card race watch: Four teams remain on the Senators tail

NHL wild card race watch: Four teams remain on the Senators tail originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . We’re back with the latest edition of the wild card watch – a regular The Sporting News series in which we analyze the NHL’s two wild card races.

As part of this file, we’re examining teams currently in a wild card spot for the Stanley Cup playoffs in the Eastern and Western Conferences, as well as the two teams immediately below them in the standings. We had standings changes this week, but we’re looking mainly at the same group of teams battling for playoff spots. And given most teams have four or five games remaining in the regular season, it’ll be increasingly difficult to change standings positions.

Some teams need to run the table and hope for help in the form of regulation-time losses from teams ahead of them in the standings. Other teams will look to get to overtime and earn a valuable point. It’s all going to shake out in the next seven days, and it’ll make for compelling viewing.

With that said, let’s dig into the newest wild card watch: MORE : NHL wild card race watch: Sharks make late push, Kings back into a playoff spot Eastern Conference: 7th Place – Boston Bruins (96 points) 8th Place – Ottawa Senators (92 points) 9th Place – Columbus Blue Jackets (90 points) 10th Place – Detroit Red Wings (89 points) The Lowdown: The Senators earned six standings points in the past week by beating the Buffalo Sabres , Tampa Bay Lightning , and Carolina Hurricanes . That’s a statement stretch of great play, and Ottawa should continue their momentum swing when they take on the Florida Panthers , New York Islanders , New Jersey Devils , and Toronto Maple Leafs in their final four games. If the Sens capitalize on their relatively easy schedule, they could move into the first wild-card spot in the East.