The NHL’s Western Conference playoff race is heating up

While the Western Conference playoff race hasn’t been as wide open as the East, that hasn’t made it any less interesting, especially with what we got last night.

It seemed like every team that needed a win got a win last night, as the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-3, the Calgary Flames routed the Anaheim Ducks 5-1, the Seattle Kraken hang on against the Dallas Stars to win 5-4 in OT, the Winnipeg Jets take a tight 2-1 victory against the Arizona Coyotes, and the Nashville Predators put up a seven-spot in a 7-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres.

Every team that had something to play for in the West got it done last night, so Tyler Yaremchuk and Mike McKenna talked about which of those victories was the most impressive.

Mike McKenna: It has to be the Jets because they needed it. Seattle beat Dallas, I think they got a little bit of a scare when Jamie Benn potted his 30th of the year with 0.7 left, and Adam Larsson ended up going down to win it in overtime, which was pretty big for Seattle. They’re not really in trouble of missing the playoffs, but the Winnipeg Jets were. You’ve got Nashville with three games in hand on the Jets, Calgary’s right there as well, and with the Jets getting a 2-1 win over Arizona, they keep Calgary four points back, Nashville’s still five points back despite those games in hand.

The thing for me is that the Jets had only won one of their four past games, and they had to earn this one. They really had to rely on Connor Hellebuyck in the second period, he had 18 shots and had to make all the saves. They scored both of their goals in the first period, and coasted there on out. It was a bookend game, the Jets were good in the first and third.

But they had to win this. They can’t give life to Nashville or Calgary because both of those teams have been right there all year long. All it can take is a bad five or six days and I thought the Jets were really in peril. You would’ve liked to see even more though. 2-1 just barely hanging on against Arizona? It’s going to be right to the end with the Jets.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I agree with you, and that win last night, 2-1 over the Coyotes, not exactly the prettiest of victories, but it showed Connor Hellebuyck can still be that guy between the pipes for the Jets. And the big thing for them, they’re now five points up on Nashville as well, and Nashville has those three games in hand, but I do think there’s a little bit of importance for the Jets of being enough points up on the Preds where the games in hand don’t matter.

I think for the psyche of the team, they want to be able to control your own destiny in a way, and know that in these last 10 games that as long as they win and take care of business, they’re going to get in. So last night was important because versus a team that has three games in hand, the difference between five points up versus only three points up is huge.

And it just goes to show how important every kind of run of two points is for the Flames. You go in and beat the Ducks after you lose 8-2 to the Kings, and it’s a roller coaster in Calgary. They haven’t been able to find that consistency all year, and the last 5-6 games for them have really been a microcosm of their season.

Mike McKenna: Yeah, same thing with Calgary. Two steps forward, two and a half back, two and a half forward. Just mid as can be with no identity, and still the same old case. You’re depending on Tyler Toffoli to come through, and you’re hoping your goalies play well. It needs to be more than that. It needs to be the whole team, so they’ve just been struggling to find that identity and play to it every night this year.

You can watch the full episode here…