Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz: Blue Jackets look to regain scoring touch, close gap in East race

Welcome to the Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz, a daily look at the races for the 2025 NHL postseason. There are 28 days left in the regular season and the races in each of the four divisions are tight. The top three teams in each of the four divisions and the next two highest-place finishers in each conference reach the playoffs.

Here is a look at the NHL standings and everything else that could impact the playoff picture.

On Tap

There is one game on the NHL schedule Friday, and it has playoff implications:

Columbus Blue Jackets at Pittsburgh Penguins (7 p.m. ET; FDSNOH, SN-PIT, NHLN, SN, TVAS)

Columbus badly needs to rediscover its scoring touch in a tight race. The Blue Jackets averaged 3.35 goals per game through March 1, fifth in the NHL, and held the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Since then, they have been shut out four times during a 1-6-1 slump, including a 1-0 loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday. The Blue Jackets (31-28-9) have scored one goal in their past four games and are three points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card in the East. Pittsburgh is 31st in the NHL in goals against per game (3.56) and has allowed nine goals in two games against Columbus this season, going 0-1-1. The Penguins (28-32-10) are eight points behind the Canadiens, who have two games in hand.

If the playoffs started Friday

Eastern Conference

(1M) Washington Capitals vs. (WC2) Montreal Canadiens

(1A) Florida Panthers vs. (WC1) Ottawa Senators

(2A) Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (3A) Tampa Bay Lightning

(2M) Carolina Hurricanes vs. (3M) New Jersey Devils

Western Conference

(1C) Winnipeg Jets vs. (WC2) St. Louis Blues

(1P) Vegas Golden Knights vs. (WC1) Minnesota Wild

(2P) Edmonton Oilers vs. (3P) Los Angeles Kings

(2C) Dallas Stars vs. (3C) Colorado Avalanche

About last night

There were 14 games on the schedule Thursday, each with playoff implications:

Colorado Avalanche 5, Ottawa Senators 1: Brock Nelson scored his first two goals for Colorado after being acquired from the New York Islanders on March 6. The Avalanche (42-25-3) improved to 9-1-1 in their past 11 games and pulled within three points of the Stars for second place in the Central Division; Dallas has two games in hand. Linus Ullmark allowed four goals on 13 shots before he was replaced by Anton Forsberg at 17:29 of the first period for Ottawa (36-27-5), which has lost two straight after winning six in a row. The Senators lead the Canadiens by three points for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Calgary Flames 5, New Jersey Devils 3: Connor Zary, Daniil Miromanov, Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri each scored in the third period, and Dustin Wolf made 26 saves for Calgary. The Flames (32-25-11) are 2-2-1 in their past five and two points behind the Blues for the second wild card in the Western Conference with two games in hand. Nico Hischier had a goal and an assist, and Jacob Markstrom made 23 saves for New Jersey. The Devils (37-27-6) have lost two of their past three and are third in the Metropolitan Division, six points behind the Hurricanes for second.

Toronto Maple Leafs 4, New York Rangers 3: John Tavares had two goals and an assist to reach 1,100 points for his NHL career, and Toronto won its third straight. The Maple Leafs (42-24-3) are tied with the Panthers for the Atlantic Division lead, but Florida holds the regulation wins tiebreaker (35-34). Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist for the Rangers (33-31-6), who have lost three in a row, all at home. The Rangers and New York Islanders each are two points behind Montreal for the second wild card in the East. The Canadiens and Islanders each have two games in hand on the Rangers.

Washington Capitals 3, Philadelphia Flyers 2: Alex Ovechkin scored his 888th goal to move within seven goals of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894, and Washington clinched a playoff berth. The Capitals (46-15-8) have won three straight and are 8-1-0 in their past nine. They’re first in the Metro and tied with the Jets for first in the NHL. Ryan Poehling had a goal and an assist for Philadelphia (28-34-8), which is 1-8-0 in its past nine and 10 points behind Montreal for the second wild card in the East.

Florida Panthers 1, Columbus Blue Jackets 0 (OT): Aleksander Barkov scored on the power play 29 seconds into overtime for Florida, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves for the shutout. The Panthers (42-24-3) remained in a tie with the Maple Leafs for first in the Atlantic, two points ahead of the Lightning. Elvis Merzlikins made 27 saves for Columbus (31-28-9), which has lost five straight, three by shutout. The Blue Jackets remained three points behind the Canadiens for the second wild card in the East.

New York Islanders 4, Montreal Canadiens 3 (OT): Bo Horvat scored his second goal of the game at 3:37 of overtime, and Ilya Sorokin made 38 saves and had two assists. The Islanders (32-28-8) have won three in a row and are 3-0-1 in their past four and have moved within two points of Montreal for the second wild card in the East. Patrik Laine had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens (33-27-8), who are 8-1-3 in their past 12.

St. Louis Blues 4, Vancouver Canucks 3 (OT): Philip Broberg scored at 3:42 of overtime, and Tyler Tucker and Dylan Holloway each had a goal and an assist for the Blues (35-28-7), who moved one point ahead of the Canucks for the second wild card in the West. Brock Boeser had two goals for the second consecutive game for Vancouver (32-25-12), which has one game in hand on St. Louis.

Anaheim Ducks 4, Nashville Predators 1: John Gibson made 33 saves in his return from a lower-body injury, and Trevor Zegras had a goal and an assist for the Ducks (30-31-8), who are nine points behind the Blues for the second wild card in the West with a game in hand. Steven Stamkos scored for the Predators (25-35-8), who are 0-3-1 in their past four and 19 points behind the Blues.

Tampa Bay Lightning 3, Dallas Stars 2 (SO): Gage Goncalves scored in the fourth round of the shootout to win it for Tampa Bay. Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli each had a goal and an assist for the Lightning (40-23-5), who won their third straight and remained third in the Atlantic, two points behind the Panthers and Maple Leafs. Casey DeSmith made 36 saves for Dallas (43-21-4), which is second in the Central, three points ahead of Colorado.

Los Angeles Kings 3, Chicago Blackhawks 1: Trevor Moore and Alex Turcotte scored in the first period for Los Angeles (37-21-9), which is 6-1-0 in its past seven and third in the Pacific, two points behind Edmonton with two games in hand. Connor Bedard scored for Chicago (20-40-9), which was eliminated from playoff contention with the loss.

Winnipeg Jets 4, Edmonton Oilers 3 (OT): Kyle Connor scored 1:13 into overtime for the Jets (48-18-4), who are 4-1-0 in their past five and have a 10-point lead over the Stars in the Central. Connor McDavid left near the end of the second period with a lower-body injury for the Oilers, with Leon Draisaitl already out with an undisclosed injury. Jeff Skinner scored twice for Edmonton (40-24-5), which is three points behind Vegas for first in the Pacific. The Golden Knights have a game in hand.

Utah Hockey Club 5, Buffalo Sabres 2: Mikhail Sergachev scored twice for Utah (31-27-11), which is four points behind St. Louis for the second wild card in the West with a game in hand. Buffalo (27-34-6) is last in the East.

Vegas Golden Knights 5, Boston Bruins 1: Pavel Dorofeyev had a hat trick, and William Karlsson had an assist after missing 20 games with a lower-body injury for Vegas (40-20-8), which increased its lead in the Pacific to three points over Edmonton. Boston (30-31-9) is 0-3-1 in its past four and five points behind Montreal for the second wild card in the East. The Canadiens have two games in hand.

Carolina Hurricanes 3, San Jose Sharks 1: Sebastian Aho scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, and Carolina won its eighth straight. The Hurricanes (42-22-4) are second in the Metro, 12 points behind the Capitals and eight points ahead of the Devils. The Sharks (18-42-9) are 1-4-0 to start an eight-game homestand and last in the NHL. They have been eliminated from playoff contention.