The East has all eight playoff teams locked only their seeds can change. The West however has the 8th and final spot coming down to todays 48th and final game. Columbus and Minnesota are tied going into today for that 8th spot with the Wild holding the tiebreaker.

Columbus -230 vs Nashville 7pm

Minnesota -137 @ Colorado 7pm

Hopefully the NHL does the right thing and bumps Habs/Leafs on NHLN and Red Wings/Stars on NBCSN for these two games since they are far more meaningful. Sure the Habs can still technically grab the two seed. But the Bruins would need to lose both of their remaining games if Montreal were to beat the Leafs. The Wild need to win on the road to get in. Columbus gets a home game against the Predators which they need to win and get a Wild loss to sneak in.

The two opponents are the two worst teams in the West but at least the Preds were a legit playoff team last year. Sure they will not be playing with the same intensity or lineup for that matter, but you have to think the Preds are at least the better team on paper. However they are  1-8-1 in their last 10 and have had chances to play the spoiler in the last few games. They have not shown up. They seem to be too disappointed with the season and just want it to be over. They might lost 5-0 tonight giving Columbus at least a chance.

The Avs on the other hand are a young team that have not played a meaningful game perhaps in their entire careers. Tonight they have a chance to make this a meaningful game. If coach Joe Sacco wants to keep his job he will have this team fired up to spoil the Wild’s season and create a springboard win going into the off-season. Something to build off of for next year.

For that last reason I think the Columbus Blue Jackets are somehow going to find themselves in the playoffs. Having home ice for a potentially huge game for the Avs is enough to bump the struggling Wild from the playoffs.

By the way a Columbus/Colorado parlay pays +211. That’s some nice value.

mlz

Saturday, April 27, 2013