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With the NHL regular season just a few days away from being completed, the playoff race in the Atlantic conference heats up. As of April 04, 2015, 3 teams currently have 90+ points and are fighting for the wild-card and third spot. Those teams in the hunt for the remaining spots are Detroit, Boston and Ottawa.
It is no question that the Boston Bruins and the Detroit Red Wings, who both have 95 points, control their own destiny in the Atlantic division. Currently, Detroit has a game in hand on Boston, meaning they’ll have one more game to play which could prove to be a fatal blow for the Bruins, who despite owning the tie-breaker over Detroit will almost have to win their remaining four games to pass Detroit.
On the outside looking in, we have the Ottawa Senators who currently sit at 92 points with 78 games played. With no more games against Detroit or Boston, Ottawa will need some magic from themselves, but from Boston also to capture the final spot in the Atlantic. Ottawa will need to win their remaining four games and will also most likely need Boston (who also have one more game then Ottawa) to lose more than one game of their remaining three, to make the playoffs. If Ottawa wants to make the playoffs however, they are going to need more big performances from goalie phenom Andrew Hammond who has been a huge part of Ottawa’s success since the injury to Robin Lehner.
With all that being said, whoever makes the playoffs could make a huge run despite them having to play Montreal and Tampa Bay respectively (four seed playing Montreal, three seed playing Tampa Bay), who have struggled in the playoffs despite having huge regular seasons of 104 points each.