Impactful Injuries Affecting the NHL Playoff Race Plus Preds Surprise

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The playoff race is heating up, but key injuries are having an impact.

Sidney Crosby, the latest player to go down, we'll talk about that plus an exciting weekend

of action ahead next on today's Lockdown NHL podcast.

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Happy Friday Rachel.

Happy Friday indeed.

Things are getting a little crazy in these playoff races here.

Not that they haven't been for a while, but we're getting to crunch time now.

Yeah, less than 10 games left for most teams.

It's that time of year where everything is, we're going to get decisions here.

We're going to know who's in and who's out.

And yet right now, injuries, playing a role in these playoff races and absences of other

kinds.

Let's start with what happened last night, Sydney Crosby leaving the game early for the

Pittsburgh Penguins.

He just came back from an injury show.

The timing isn't great and you know, that could have a big impact on the penguins playoff

hopes.

Yeah, I mean, it's going to be huge, right?

And the standings in the Metro Division seem to be changing on a daily basis in terms

of who's in the top three versus a wild card spot versus being on the outside looking

in.

And when your top score and team captain is in and out of the lineup, it makes it a lot

more difficult to keep up with everyone else around you.

It does.

And you know, Crosby is experienced.

He's been through almost everything there is to go through in the NHLs one Stanley Copsies.

You know, he is the face of that franchise.

He's the leader of that team and losing him right now when you're in second place, but

you're also two points out of missing the playoffs altogether could be costly.

Now we don't know the extent of the injury as of the time of this recording, but it certainly

didn't look good when he left the game last night.

Yeah.

And you know, I think that with Pittsburgh, I still think they're going to make

the playoffs, but I really do just based on how they've been able to kind of rally without

him to some degree.

But I think for them to really do anything in the playoffs, they're going to need him

back.

Yeah.

I think that's an important distinction because, you know, he just he has always been on

the penguins, the rising tide that lifts all boats and losing him at this point would

definitely limit what their potential would be.

Now, but, you know, the penguins have found a way all season long.

And like you said, I think they could still make the playoffs without him.

And again, we don't know how long he could be out as a result of this injury.

And that, you know, recently they've lost Crosby, he came back, Malcolm was suspended,

he came back.

They seem to be finding a way to overcome these injuries.

Yeah.

And I think that's important.

I think that, you know, the issue when you transition into the playoffs is that, you

know, Malcolm is now, you know, I guess like Brian Rust in some ways too, but you look

at who the veterans are on the team that can kind of carry some of the other guys through

to the playoffs.

There aren't as many of them in the line up there.

And so I think having Crosby there is definitely the make or break for that team.

Yeah, it would definitely be important.

So we will keep an eye on his status and how it's going to impact the Pittsburgh penguins.

And then obviously that impacts all the teams that are chasing the Pittsburgh penguins

in the Metro and in the wild card race as well.

And I know that, you know, that Eastern Conference last few playoffs spots was talked about

on Thursday show.

Other injuries around the league now, the San Jose sharks are trying to hold on to a

playoff spot and they come out with a pretty important injury at this late stage of the

season.

Yeah.

Yaroslav Askerov, who had been out for seven games with an injury finally gets back into

the lineup and then has to leave in his first game back.

He got run into in the crease in their game last night in Adelkovik comes in and and

replaces him, but Ned's played like the last previous five games for the sharks did not

have good results in those games, not entirely his fault to be clear.

You know, the sharks are kind of up and down, but and they're a young team, right?

And so being in this high pressure situation is new for San Jose.

Like having Askerov as as your top goal tender, not available to you makes it a lot more

difficult to try and make a true playoff run here.

Yeah.

And then the one thing you can't afford late in the season, especially and with the

compressed schedule and all the back to backs, having only one goalie you could rely on

in this situation, you run the risk of that goalie being burned out and and struggling

even more.

And you know, you mentioned the sharks that it wasn't all Nedelkovik's fault.

Look, this team sometimes they play good defense and sometimes they kind of forget to play

good defense.

It's true.

And you know, when they're on, there is good as anybody in the league and when they're

off, it's like deja vu from a year or two ago where you just cringe at what how bad

things can get.

Now, the sharks have had fewer and fewer of those cringe worthy games as the year has

gone on.

But they need to pay attention to detail and it's not always easy with a young team to

get that consistent performance in front of your goalie.

Right.

And, you know, they have just not been playing their best hockey over the past several weeks

and you look back to the beginning of the month and they only have four wins in the month

of March with, you know, with everybody having these relentless schedules and having

like well over a dozen games, like that's just not going to cut it.

And it's not that it's necessarily a bad thing for the sharks in the big picture in terms

of making the playoffs versus not making the playoffs.

I'm making the playoffs for them is like a nice to have this season.

I think next year is the season that you're like, no, it's time to start being more serious

about it.

But it's just one of those things that to play well and get to a point where you think

you could and then take a nose dive at the end of the season and then have your goalie

knocked out and be unable to at least rely on that as a way to get your footing again

to go out on the end of the season on a good note.

Like that's what you would like to do, but this just makes it harder for them to do that.

Yeah, harder to get that momentum and have that good, you know, feeling at the end of

the season, even if you don't make the playoffs.

But at the same time, based on where the sharks are in their rebuild and it wasn't a retool.

This was a, you know, strip the scene down and build it back up from scratch thing.

Even competing in these meaningful games in late March and into early April will be

a valuable learning experience for this young team.

Yeah, I think so.

I think so as well.

And this is the year for them to do it.

Like I'm saying, like this is kind of playing with house money for the sharks this year.

And so, you know, you want to have the goal tending solidified for the future.

You want to keep an eye on this ask or off situation and see if it's something that's

going to, you know, become more of a continuing issue versus a one off situation.

So we'll see how he's doing, but very concerning for them.

No question about it.

And then some news out of Tampa, Victor headman, the captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning taking

an indefinite leave of absence from the team for personal reasons, first of all, whatever

the reasons are, I wish him well, I hope that whatever it is can be resolved.

But this is obviously going to impact Tampa Bay, who's fighting for first place in the

Atlantic and for first place overall in the east.

Yeah.

And, you know, obviously, like you said, you know, we hope everything is okay with him.

And he takes care of whatever he needs to and he comes back whenever he's ready.

But you know, it does have an impact, right?

And again, with everything being so tight in the east, you know, we'll see how that affects

the light thing.

It's interesting because you're talking about with Crosby and headman veteran captains

with Stanley Cup winning experience.

Now headman, you know, he hasn't quite been his old self this year.

He's dealt with some injuries.

He has had his struggles, but you would think down the stretch of the playoff drive, he

would be an important component in that locker room.

Yeah.

I mean, the good thing I think about the lightning in particular is that they've got a lot

of leaders in that room, right?

And I think with the pens, they do as well.

Like I didn't mention in our Carlson earlier, you know, obviously a big leader in that

room as well, but I think with the lightning, this particular season and this team, it's

been, you know, we know they're good, but I think the fact that they're in a high level

conversation to make a strong Stanley Cup run here is a little bit unexpected.

So I think they're going to continue to do what they've done all season long and surprise

people and buckle down and find a way.

Yeah.

I mean, look, coming into the season, most experts had the penguins as a lottery team,

as a team that could get the top overall pick and look where they are now.

So there is that.

What about the surprise team in the Western conference that nobody's talking about?

We're going to discuss that team coming up next.

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We got to talk about the Nashville predators.

Here is a team that in early December was dead last in the NHL.

And if you look at the standings right now, guess who would make the playoffs in the

Western conference now they're not guaranteed.

The standings are still very tight, but the second wild card as of right now is the Nashville

predators.

How have they been able to turn things around so quickly?

Yeah, well, I think first we have to give them their flowers in some ways because there's

been other shinier objects talked about around the NHL everybody's talking about Buffalo

Sabers.

True, absolutely valid.

I think in the West in terms of the wild card race, people have been talking more about

Utah in the quagmire that is the central division and Utah being the darling team that's getting

hosed by the fact that the top three teams in the division are just so dominant that there's

no room versus the Pacific division like that conversation has been swirling around.

But Nashville has just been slowly but steadily doing their thing and getting better.

And interestingly, I feel like it's been since Barry Trott's announced that he was going

to leave the team as GM.

I think there was just this like, okay, well, we're going to turn a corner like the team's

going to make some changes.

Why not start now like that's what it feels like to me.

Yeah, it's almost like people sort of realize what was at stake and if they didn't turn

things around, you know, you got to do GM coming in, it would mean massive changes across

the roster.

Nobody has any, you know, the new GM most likely will not have a stake in a lot of the players

on the roster.

He is going to want to make his own imprint on the team.

And you know, that maybe created a sense of urgency with this group.

And I think also, even within the season, like they were looking at the trade deadline

and saying, if we don't shape up, a lot of guys are going to be shipped out.

Yeah, you know, it is interesting.

They did lose to New Jersey last night, right, which I think isn't anomaly because they,

you know, they won their previous five games and, you know, they've been up and down.

But I think overall they had a pretty solid January overall.

The break was not really kind to them.

I think they came back off it with, you know, a little bit of unevenness, but, you know,

they've just had a really good last couple of weeks here that's put them in this position.

I think they've gotten, you know, really good goal tending overall, including a shootout

win for, you say, Soros against Winnipeg, you know, I think they've also benefited from

some schedule lock here in terms of playing some of the weaker teams other than, you know,

Vegas.

But Vegas hasn't been playing that well recently, right?

And so Nashville was able to capitalize on that.

But, you know, I think, I think it's a really interesting story that maybe people should

be talking about more.

Yeah, I think so too.

And then I don't know if you can even say it's happened quietly, but Steven Stankos has 36 goals.

And I don't think too many people are talking about that.

I mean, yeah, there was a lot of conversation about him at the trade deadline, right?

And will he get traded or not?

And I think that for him personally, since the trade deadline has passed, like,

I think he has, he's also part of this prove it conversation there in terms of, he's

like, well, I shouldn't have been in that conversation because I should have been leading

this team and this group to find some success here.

And I need to prove that.

And that's exactly what he has done since the trade deadline.

Yeah, he has stepped it up and, you know, I know Nashville is not sort of a high media

attention team in this league, but I get the feeling if he were playing in Tampa or in Toronto

or Montreal, there'd be a lot more focus on what Steven Stankos has done this year.

Yeah, I think so too.

I mean, you know, Roman Yosey is playing really well.

Yes.

You know, he's got 30 points since mid-January, like he's playing tremendously as well.

So, you know, it's not just Stankos.

But I think Stankos, you know, leads the charge with this team.

Yeah, I think he does lead the charge, but he does have help.

And then the other thing is this, you know, they're below the middle of the league in goals scored.

They're near the bottom of the league in goals against.

They just let up a lot of goals, but special teams, 11th on the power play, 12th on the penalty kill.

You get the feeling that special teams have just had a big impact on the Nashville Predator's success

and situationally, they're finding ways to just get it done.

Yeah.

And, you know, they're obviously they're not the best in the league at either of those scenes, things.

But on average, when you're that high in the league, that's going to be a benefit to you, right, statistically over time.

Absolutely, it makes a difference.

And, you know, you look at the plus minus on a lot of guys on this team.

It's not pretty, the goal differential, not pretty, but the results, you know, they're finding ways to win hockey games.

I guess the question I have to ask you, here we are.

They have what 10 games left on their schedule.

Do they make it or not?

You know, that is certainly the question here.

I tend to say no, but I don't think that would be a failure on their part.

Again, like you look at the division and, you know, I set this discussion up, saying it's, you know, the unfairness of it all has been part of the conversation here with the central, but that aspect of it is what makes it OK.

If Nashville doesn't make it because it's just so crowded here, it is crowded and there's very few points separating these teams.

And, you know, Nashville, after playing Montreal and Tampa Bay this weekend, they're going to play LA and San Jose, two of the teams that they're fighting for those last playoff spots with.

So a lot of it is in their control, they kind of control their own destiny, but it's not going to be easy.

Yeah, this back to back is this weekend is going to be huge for them and I think will like so goes this so goes the rest of the season for them in a lot of ways because they have two games against LA in in the first week of April, like that's going to be huge for them.

Absolutely, it's going to it's going to have a big impact on both of those teams and their playoff chances and of course we will keep track of that every step of the way.

Starting about big games, we've got a bunch of them coming up this weekend, we're going to talk about that next.

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A lot of important games this weekend. We kind of had to get it down to three or four as far as the games we're going to discuss.

So many games with playoff implications and tonight the big one, the Detroit Red Wings and the Buffalo Savers and Atlantic division matchup with important implications for both teams.

Yeah, absolutely. I think as we've been talking about each and every game is more and more important as the remainder of this season progresses.

Detroit is in a really interesting situation themselves as part of the kind of quagmire of the wildcard race here.

They are currently on the outside looking in here and then have to face like the league darlings that we just talked about with the Buffalo Savers.

Who are 7 1 and 2 in their last 10 here with 96 points.

Whereas Detroit's got 84 points. They've lost their last couple of games.

They've struggled a little bit recently and they're facing this is like the first half of a back to back.

They have this weekend against the Sabers then the flyers who are right hovering below them in the standings here trying to like leapfrogs.

So this first game is going to be important for them to win because that second game is going to be extremely physical and a bit of a blood bath because the flyers will not have had played a game the night before.

Yeah, and just to tie that in even further, the one thing Detroit does have you mentioned there on the outside looking in, but they have a game or two in hand on everybody else.

This weekend with the back to back, that could be the game in hand and they've got to make the most of that opportunity.

That's their big trump card right now.

Yeah, absolutely.

And you look at the season series here, you know, these two teams have not played each other since November 15th when things were very, very different in Buffalo Savers land.

And yet the Buffalo Sabers won both previous games against Detroit.

So even when Buffalo was struggling, they found a way to win against Detroit.

Now Buffalo is firing on all cylinders and Detroit is playing in desperation mode. So I think it'll be a really interesting game to watch.

It will be in Buffalo, of course, fighting for first place in the Atlantic. So yeah, both teams definitely need this game.

Now Saturday, let's delve into the big game out west where two teams fighting for those final playoff spots go head to head the Utah mammoth and the L.A. Kings.

Yeah, right now the mammoth are ahead of the Kings in this race in the first wild card spot here, the L.A. Kings one point out of the wild card for the aforementioned Nashville predators that we just talked about here.

So, you know, the Kings are chasing some central division teams here for those wild card spots, they could in theory catch up to the Vegas golden nights for that third spot in the Pacific division here, you know, they're only three points behind them and they have a game in hand.

You know, it would help the Kings to to leap from the whole wild card process by aiming for that third spot in the west. And that's what makes this game so important for them.

Absolutely. And you know, interestingly enough, the Kings do lead the NHL in one important category. And I think it's one of the reasons they're still within reach of a playoff for they have 18 overtime or shootout losses.

Yeah, it is interesting. The flyers played the Kings recently and on their road trip out west and that was a big point of conversation that both teams have played a ridiculous amount of overtime and shootout games this season, the flyers have been much more successful than the Kings in this category.

And that's, you know, certainly how it turned out for the flyers, but with getting a win out there, but I think that, you know, you look into when, you know, the rubber meets the road here that the Kings have struggled there.

And so if this goes into extra time, you might want to lean toward the mammoth in this one.

Yeah, she should be very interesting. And then over on Sunday, the Montreal Canadiens and the Carolina Hurricanes going head to head, the Bruins and the Blue Jackets going head to head.

Yeah, I think the Bruins Blue Jackets game is the more interesting one for me, just because the Blue Jackets have been that other kind of Cinderella story this season since they made the coaching change.

I think, you know, they are currently in the third position in the Metro as a recording, but have bounced between the kind of wildcard just out of the wildcard here.

Boston has been in a similar situation with being in the wildcard not being in the wildcard, they started out really rough this season and have climbed their way back into contention here as well.

I think, you know, both of them have been good, but not great. Like they, they both have had, you know, some weird losses along the way recently, but they're still hanging in there. So I think it, it should be a fun one and we'll have big implications overall for this wildcard race in the east.

Yeah, have wildcard implications, third place in each division implications, it's it's going to be a very meaningful game in this playoff race.

And I can't believe we're we're like what two weeks, two and a half weeks left in the season at this point.

Yeah, it is definitely winding down and we are actually going to start to get answers as to who is going to make the playoffs kind of looking forward to that.

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We are here every day Monday through Friday bringing you the biggest stories from around the NHL and the hockey world.

We also have on this channel NHL game night every game every night until a Stanley Cup champion is crowned.

I will be back on Monday interviewing three of our local hosts about the biggest stories from around the league as the playoff picture unfolds. Have a great weekend everyone. Thanks for listening and watching and stay safe.

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