Since we’re down to the final moments of postseason life for teams in contention, Puck Daddy solemnly begins a daily countdown to annihilation.
The Ottawa Senators, without injured star defenseman Erik Karlsson, lost to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night. They’re in a 3-4-3 funk. They’re watching literally every team behind them (not named the Islanders) win.
The Senators have gone from a team with its eyes on the Atlantic Division lead to one looking hard over its collective shoulder.
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“Every team goes through a rut, we’ve got to climb out of it as a group. Luckily, we’ve built ourselves a bit of a cushion,” said winger Bobby Ryan.
Is it big enough with six games left?
Here are the current standings.*The Death Watch tracks the final Wild Card spot and the teams that are chasing it. Their “tragic number” is the number of points gained by the final wild card team or lost by the team chasing it.
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Here’s the Eastern Conference:

The Toronto Maple Leafs (89 points), Boston Bruins (88 points), Tampa Bay Lightning (85 points), Carolina Hurricanes (84 points) and Philadelphia Flyers (82 points) were all winners. The New York Islanders (82 points) were … not.
April 4 and April 6. That’s what it might all come down to. The former date features the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning facing off. The latter date has the Bruins against the Senators and the Lightning against the Leafs.
Enough can’t be said about the Leafs’ win at the Nashville Predators. The Preds were 23-8-7 at home. They beat Pekka Rinne. That’s a real character test they passed right there. The Leafs have a 42-percent chance of taking the No. 3 seed; Ottawa, it should be said, is still at 59 percent to take second, according to Sports Club Stats.
The Islanders, meanwhile, have just a two percent chance of finishing in the last wild card spot, i.e. “making the playoffs.”
Meanwhile, the Columbus Blue Jackets earned a charity point against the Carolina Hurricanes, moving three points up on the Penguins for home ice.
Here’s the Western Conference:

So not only are the Edmonton Oilers going to make the playoffs for the first time in 10 years, but they could have home-ice and could even win the Pacific? And there are people that won’t vote Connor McDavid for the Hart?

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The beautiful thing about the Pacific is that Anaheim, Edmonton and San Jose all have games against each other down the stretch. Don’t sleep on the Calgary Flames, who could still sneak into the top three.
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In the battle for the division title, however, the Ducks have a 45-percent chance while the Oilers are at 43 percent, per Sports Club Stats.
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The Preds’ loss opens the door for the St. Louis Blues to open up a little lead before they face Nashville on Sunday.
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Here’s the Money Puck take: