
(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)
We’re officially into the home stretch of the NHL schedule. With less than two weeks to play most of the playoff spots in the Western Conference are locked up but seeding is still up in the air.
First, a look at the two races most impacting the Golden Knights. Then a couple that are loosely related to the Western Conference Final. We’ll worry about the East in eight weeks.
Pacific Division Title
The Golden Knights are in about as strong of a position as you can hope to be in with five games left on the schedule. They currently hold a five-point lead over the Los Angeles Kings and a nine-point lead over the Edmonton Oilers. Both division foes have a game in hand but they also still have a game against each other.
The magic number on the Kings is eight and the Oilers is three. That number includes points won by the Golden Knights and points lost by the Kings or Oilers respectively. So, in 22 points, VGK need far less than half.
The Golden Knights have already clinched the tiebreaker on the Oilers and are likely to do the same to the Kings. VGK have 43 regulation wins to LAK’s 39 and EDM’s 32.
So, a record of 4-0-1 would clinch the division on its own for the Golden Knights assuming at least three of the wins occur in regulation or two in regulation and at least one in overtime. Otherwise, 3-1-1 would likely do it fairly easily and 2-2-1 should even be enough. If they slip as low as 2-3-0 or even 1-3-1, then they’ll need some missteps by the Kings.
First vs Second Wild Card
Assuming the Golden Knights do indeed secure the Pacific Division, the next most important race is for the first wild card spot. On the backs of their unbelievable 12-game winning streak, the St. Louis Blues currently hold that spot with a two-point advantage over the Minnesota Wild. Both teams have exactly four games to play and do not face each other.
However, despite the two-point lead, the Blues do not hold the tiebreaker and are unlikely to grapple it away from the Wild if it were to come into play, and St. Louis has a much more difficult schedule in the final four games.
Minnesota have four games against non-playoff Pacific Division teams. They play San Jose on Wednesday at home before traveling to Calgary and Vancouver for a back-to-back, then have two days off before hosting the Ducks in Game 82. Meanwhile, St. Louis have a three game road trip this week to Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Seattle before returning home for a final game against Utah.
St. Louis’ magic number for the #1 wild card is seven with four games to play. Minnesota’s is nine, meaning they need help from the Blues. If St. Louis’s winning streak is snapped though, the Wild’s easy schedule could see them rip the place back away.
Central Division Crown and #1 Seed In West
Amazingly, despite holding the lead in the conference for pretty much the entire season after their 15-1-0 start, the Winnipeg Jets have not clinched the Central Division. They currently hold a three-point lead on the Stars with five games to play. This is an identical lead to the one the Golden Knights will hold over LA if the Kings beat Seattle tonight. Like the Golden Knights, Winnipeg sits in an excellent position needing just eight points to lock up the division.
There is a game between the two teams still hanging in the balance though, and the game is at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. If the Jets win that game, even in overtime they’ll essentially sow it up. But, if Dallas wins in regulation, things get much more interesting in a hurry.
Aside from the game against each other, Winnipeg has St. Louis at home, a trip to Chicago, then Edmonton and Anaheim at home. Dallas face Vancouver and Utah at home and then head to Detroit and Nashville.
It would be a pretty big surprise if the Jets give it away, but both teams are desperately trying to avoid facing Colorado in the first round, so Dallas will push for it.
Final Playoff Spot
Technically, Utah and Vancouver are still alive. But technically, we all have a chance to win the Megabucks slot machine too. They are both eliminated for all intents and purposes. Calgary on the other hand has a glimmer of hope.
They are six points back of Minnesota but they have two games in hand. Those are road games at San Jose and Anaheim. Then, if they win both of those there’s a game between the Wild and the Flames in Calgary on Friday. If the Flames win that one in regulation, then they’ll be tied with Minnesota with three games left.
Unfortunately for Calgary, it doesn’t get easier from there. They must take on San Jose again, then Vegas and Los Angeles while the Wild get San Jose, Vancouver, and Anaheim.
So, Calgary basically to win all six games left, have to beat the Wild in regulation, and then still need Minnesota to drop at least one point to three of the worst teams in the league because the Flames do not own the tiebreak.
It looks possible on paper because of the two games in hand and the head-to-head matchup, but realistically, it’s not.

ThG
Top 10 Hockey Players—
Wayne Gretzky – the great one
Gordie Howe – the greatest
Bobby Orr – the best
Mario Lemeuix- great all around
Terry Sawchuck –numerous awards
Rocket Richard -skilled
Steve Yzerman – skilled
Pavel Datsyuk -skilled
Favorable ‘Mentions”::
Martin Brodeur- most Wins
Paul coffee & Ray Borque
Best Russians: Federov/Bure
—————————————
Added Category – Best At :
Garbage Collectors and Cherry Pickers:
Phil Esposito
ALex Ofetchkin
PS best garbage poster and flip flopper? Dare I say ?
sb
Mike Bossy – the greatest pure goal scorer.
Doug Harvey – the greatest D-man in the game prior to the arrival of Bobby Orr and the ‘puck rushing’ D-man era. Harvey was the better 2-way player and put FEAR into opposition forwards.
larry
sb….i agree 100% on Mike Bossy….I grew up lived and died rooting for the Rangers from the late 60’s through the mid 80’s…and hated the islanders with a passion…the same venom i currently hold for the &^(*%$ oilers…I watched Bossy perform magic with his stick and shot all the while playing with and through intense back pain which would ultimately prematurely end his career…I hated him in his playing days but at the same time had an ultimate respect for him….something i couldnt and still cant say about almost every islander…save for Bossy’s linemate Clark Gillies…may they both rest in peace.
larry
Top 3 players I saw in my nearly 55 years of watching hockey:
#4 Bobby Orr
#66 Mario Lemieux
#99 Wayne Gretzky
One can argue different eras, generations and statistics, but one cannot argue the vast impact that each player had on revolutionizing the brand of hockey they institutionalized.
knights fan in minny
datsyuk can stick handle in a phone booth
ThG
upside down
Anand
Ah shit. Man, them pinche black gangstas are at it again
I wonder who they fucked up today?
You motherfucker!
(Got him)
Pull over to the side right now
Man, fuck them motherfuckers!
Yo, Dre! Give me a funky-ass bassline!
Right here!
Here’s a little somethin’ about a nigga like me
Never should’ve been let out the penitentiary
Ice Cube would like to say
That I’m a crazy mothafucka from around the way
Since I was a youth, I smoked weed out
Now I’m the mothafucka that you read about
Takin’ a life or two, that’s what the hell I do
You don’t like how I’m livin’? Well, fuck you!
This is a gang and I’m in it
My man Dre’ll fuck you up in a minute
With a right left, right left, you toothless
And then you say: “Goddamn, they ruthless!”
Everywhere we go they say: “Damn!”
N.W.A’s fuckin’ up the program
And then you realize we don’t care
We don’t just say no, we’re too busy sayin’, “Yeah!”
About drinkin’ straight out the eight bottle
Do I look like a mothafuckin’ role model?
To a kid lookin’ up to me
Life ain’t nothin’ but bitches and money
‘Cause I’m the type of nigga that’s built to last
If you fuck with me I’ll put my foot in your ass
See, I don’t give a fuck, ’cause I keep bailin’
Yo, what the fuck are they yellin’?
Gangsta, Gangsta! That’s what they’re yellin’
It’s not about a salary, it’s all about reality
Gangsta, Gangsta!
Hopin’ you sophisticated motherfuckers
Hear what I have to say
When me and my posse stepped in the house
All the punk-ass niggas start breakin’ out
‘Cause you know, they know what’s up
So we started lookin’ for the bitches with the big butts
Like her, but she keep cryin’
“I got a boyfriend” bitch, stop lyin’!
Dumb-ass hooker ain’t nothin’ but a dyke
Suddenly I see some niggas that I don’t like
Walked over to ’em, and said, “What’s up?”
The first nigga that I saw, hit him in the jaw
Ren started stompin’ him, and so did E
By that time got rushed by security
Out the door, but we don’t quit
Ren said: “Let’s start some shit”
I got a shotgun, and here’s the plot
Takin’ niggas out with a flurry of buck shots
Boom, boom, boom! Yeah, I was gunnin’
And then you look, all you see is niggas runnin’
And fallin’ and yellin’ and pushin’ and screamin’
And cussin’, I stepped back and I kept bustin’
And then I realized it’s time for me to go
So I stopped, jumped in the vehicle
It’s like this, because of that who-ride
N.W.A is wanted for a homicide
‘Cause I’m the type of nigga that’s built to last
Fuck with me, I’ll put my foot in your ass
See, I don’t give a fuck, ’cause I keep bailin’
Yo, what the fuck are they yellin’?
Gangsta, Gangsta! That’s what they’re yellin’
It’s not about a salary, it’s all about reality
Gangsta, Gangsta
He’ll tell you exactly how he feel
And don’t want a fuckin’ thing back
Homies all standin’ around, just hangin’
Some dope-dealin’, some gang-bangin’
We decide to roll and we deep
See a nigga on Dayton’s and we creep
Real slow and before you know
I had my shotgun pointed in the window
He got scared and hit the gas
Right then I knew I has to smoke his ass
He kept rollin’, I jumped in the bucket
We couldn’t catch him, so I said fuck it
Then we headed right back to the fort
Sweatin’ all the bitches in the biker shorts
We didn’t get no play from the ladies
With six niggas in a car are you crazy?
She was scared, and it was showin’
We all said “Fuck you, bitch!” and kept goin’
To the hood, and we was fin to
Find somethin’ else to get into
Like some pussy, or in fact
A bum rush, but we call it rat pack
On a nigga for nothin’ at all
Ice Cube’ll go stupid when I’m full of eight ball
I might stumble, but still won’t lose
Now I’m dressed in the county blues
‘Cause I’m the type of nigga that’s built to last
If you fuck with me, I’ll put my foot in your ass
I don’t give a fuck, ’cause I keep bailin’
Yo, what the fuck are they yellin’?
Wait a minute, wait a minute, cut this shit!
Man, what’cha gon’ do now?
(What we’re gonna do right here is go way back)
How far you goin’ back? (Way back)
“As we go a lil’ somethin’ like this” hit it!
Here’s a little gangsta, short in size
A t-shirt and Levi’s is his only disguise
Built like a tank, yet hard to hit
Ice Cube and Eazy-E cold runnin’ shit
Well, I’m Eazy-E, the one they’re talkin’ about
Nigga tried to roll the dice and just crapped out
Police tried to roll, so it’s time to go
I creeped away real slow and jumped in the six-fo’
With the diamond in the back, sun-roof top
Diggin’ the scene with the gangsta lean
‘Cause I’m the E, I don’t slang or bang
I just smoke motherfuckers like it ain’t no thang
And all you bitches, you know I’m talkin’ to you
“We want to fuck you, Eazy, ” I want to fuck you too
Because you see, I don’t really take no shit
So let me tell you motherfuckers who you’re fuckin’ with
‘Cause I’m the type of nigga that’s built to last
If you fuck with me, I’ll put a foot in your ass
I don’t give a fuck, ’cause I keep bailin’
Yo, what the fuck are they yellin’?
Gangsta, Gangsta! That’s what they’re yellin’
It’s not about a salary, it’s all about reality
Gangsta, Gangsta
He’ll fuck up you and yours
And anything that gets in his way
Gangsta, Gangsta! That’s what they’re yellin’
It’s not about a salary, it’s all about reality
Gangsta, Gangsta
He’ll just call you a low-life motherfucker
And talk about yo’ funky ways
knights fan in minny
you belong in a rubber room hood rat
Tyler Durden
Fuck you racist piece of shit
knights fan in minny
fucking faggot turdun why so angry is your tds flaring up fight me in the parking lot your bitch kamala got stomped
Donald J Trump
THE PEOPLE WON TWO CASES TODAY against domestic terrorists as SC ruled in Trump ADM. FAVOR. This is WHAT WINNING LOOLS LIKE. DC r
Rogue judges struck down, shopping around for out of venue judges struck down.
And there is MORE
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed Donald Trump to pursue deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members using a 1798 law that historically has been employed only in wartime as part of the Republican president’s hardline approach to immigration, but with certain limits.
The court, in an unsigned 5-4 ruling powered by conservative justices, granted the administration’s request to lift Washington-based U.S. Judge James Boasberg’s March 15 order that had temporarily blocked the summary deportations under Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act while litigation in the case continues.
Despite siding with the administration, the court’s majority placed limits on how deportations may occur, emphasizing that judicial review is required.
Detainees “must receive notice after the date of this order that they are subject to removal under the Act. The notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs,” the majority wrote.
The court has a 6-3 conservative majority. Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett and the court’s three liberal justices dissented.
Trump’s administration has argued that Boasberg had encroached on presidential authority to make national security decisions.
“The Supreme Court has upheld the Rule of Law in our Nation by allowing a President, whoever that may be, to be able to secure our Borders, and protect our families and our Country, itself,” Trump wrote on social media.
Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act on March 15 to swiftly deport the alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang, attempting to speed up removals with a law best known for its use to intern Japanese, Italian and German immigrants during World War Two.
In Monday’s decision, the court said that to challenge the legitimacy of their detention under the Alien Enemies Act detainees must pursue so-called habeas corpus claims in the federal judicial district where a detainee is located. That means that the proper venue for this litigation was in Texas, not the District of Columbia, the court said.
The ruling said the court was not resolving the validity of the administration’s reliance on that law to carry out the deportations.
The plaintiffs in the case “challenge the government’s interpretation of the Act and assert that they do not fall within the category of removable alien enemies. But we do not reach those arguments,” the court decided.
In a legal challenge handled by the American Civil Liberties Union, a group of Venezuelan men in the custody of U.S. immigration authorities sued on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, seeking to block the deportations. They argued, among other things, that Trump’s order exceeded his powers because the Alien Enemies Act authorizes removals only when war has been declared or the United States has been invaded.
The law authorizes the president to deport, detain or place restrictions on individuals whose primary allegiance is to a foreign power and who might pose a national security risk in wartime.
DUE PROCESS
Lee Gelernt, a lawyer with ACLU and lead counsel representing the detainees, framed the court’s decision as a win for his side.
“This ruling means we will need to start the court process over again in a different venue, but the critical point is that the Supreme Court said individuals must be given due process to challenge their removal under the Alien Enemies Act,” Gelernt said. “That is a huge victory.”
The dissenting justices, in an opinion written by liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, criticized the majority’s “dubious” conclusions in the case and for acting with just a few days of deliberation.
There is “every reason to question the majority’s hurried conclusion that habeas relief supplies the exclusive means to challenge removal under the Alien Enemies Act,” Sotomayor wrote.
Sotomayor said that federal courts called upon to review these cases going forward will probe the interpretation of the Alien Enemies Act, including whether there is an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” justifying its use, and “whether any given individual is in fact a member of Tren de Aragua.”
Requiring detainees to make individual claims across the country “risks exposing them to severe and irreparable harm,” Sotomayor wrote in part of the dissent joined by the two other liberal justices and not Barrett. One risk is that they will not know whether they will remain in detention where they are arrested or be secretly transferred to an alternative location, Sotomayor said.
“That requirement may have life or death consequences,” Sotomayor wrote.
Boasberg, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, temporarily blocked the deportations. But Trump’s administration allowed two planes already in the air to continue to El Salvador where American officials handed 238 Venezuelan men over to Salvadoran authorities to be placed in the Central American country’s “Terrorism Confinement Center.”
The judge also has scrutinized whether the Trump administration violated his order by failing to return the deportation flights after his order was issued. Justice Department lawyers said the flights had left U.S. airspace by the time Boasberg issued a written order and thus were not required to return. They dismissed the weight of Boasberg’s spoken order during a hearing two hours earlier calling for any planes carrying deportees to be turned around.
On March 18, Trump called for Boasberg’s impeachment by Congress – a process that could remove him from the bench – drawing a rebuke from the U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts. Trump on social media called Boasberg, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2011 in a bipartisan 96-0 vote, a “Radical Left Lunatic” and a “troublemaker and agitator.”
Monday’s decision was the latest in recent days in which the Supreme Court sided with Trump. In a 5-4 decision on Friday, it let Trump’s administration proceed with millions of dollars of cuts to teacher training grants – part of his crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The court earlier on Monday also temporarily halted a judge’s order requiring the administration to return by the end of the day a Salvadoran man who the government has acknowledged was deported in error to El Salvador.
(Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham)
JB
LA gets beat tonight by Seattle! Yea baby!
Scott
I predicted the opposite. I would NEVER have thought the Kings would lose at home down the stretch, let alone to a mid team like the Kraken. GKG!!!
Pistol Pete
Yeah Scott I tended to be in agreement but I might have said it was UNLIKELY! And we have Chandler to thank for assisting on Montour’s first period game winner. They held the Kings off for an additional 41 minutes. It is surprising the letdown given what was at stake.
Scott
Go Chandler! Nice assist! My Kings buddy was at the game and he was totally bummed. I respect those guys a lot, but I’m glad they had the letdown!
Scott
The Kings lost Adrian Kempe part way through for “personal reason” (no kidding). So that didn’t help their cause. But I will take it!
Pistol Pete
3-2-0 clinches
Pistol Pete
This is supposed to be a VGK/hockey only board with exception-not-the-rule off-topic posts duly headed.
ThG
“this is supposed to be ” really ? Spoken like a true lib tard control freak who can’t stand free speech.
Tyler Durden
Go fuck yourself you stupid conspiracy theory brain rotted MAGAT
knights fan in minny
fuck you faggot pussy boy turdun
Pistol Pete
People who continually post off topic here are neurotic fools.
ID10T w/ a Ba1100n
Same could be said about people that reply to their post, then reply to the reply, then they play Pete and repeat to their post and replies. All while flip-flopping.
The hockey God
IWAB
aka flip-flop fuckery and drudgery!
I think PP is getting senile. At least TImMAH, the Indians fan, knows the score.
The meaning of DRUDGERY is dull, irksome, and fatiguing work : uninspiring or mental menial labor. Used in a sentence.
“I always try my best to treat others right, but unfortunately there are plenty of nosy/overzealous cyber-bully a**h**es out there who like to find fault and berate me for stuff that I either can’t even help or certainly did not mean to be hurtful to anyone (and even if someone actually DOES think that he may have a legitimate gripe/concern, why not just SEND ME A PRIVATE MESSAGE ABOUT IT, rather than slamming me publicly?!??). So I gotta endure a round of “quadruple-p” drudgery a few times a year, just to make sure that any decent folks who read my profile or posts don’t get the wrong idea about me.”-urban dictionary.
ThG
time to take the trash out, you know nothing pee pee and repeat
Pistol Pete
Here’s to the chance we beat the Avs in Denver!
Pistol Pete
Blues finally lose (Jets).
Scott
Blues, Kings, Oilers all lost! Now let’s beat the Avs and end this so our guys can get some rest before the final two games of the regular season.
Pistol Pete
Three more wins in five and the VGK will post their third 50 win season in six 82 game seasons (two were COVID-shortened).
2017-18: 51-24-7 (win division)
2018-19: 43-32-7
2019-20 (COVID): 39-24-8 (win division)
2020-21 (COVID): 40-14-2 (tied with COL in pts; COL wins division (more RW’s)
2021-22: 43-31-8 (missed playoffs; 3 pts behind NSH for WC)
2022-23: 51-22-9 (win division and SC)
2023-24: 45-29-8
Pistol Pete
VGK +114
COL -135
Will we see Hertl?
ID10T w/ a Ba1100n
Pistol Pete and Repeat made apost and reply thread all on their own. Pete stopped replying so who was left?
ID10T w/ a Ba1100n
Pistol Pete and Repeat made apost and reply thread all on their own. Pete stopped replying so who was left?
ID10T w/ a Ba1100n
Pistol Pete and Repeat made apost and reply thread all on their own. Pete stopped replying so who was left?
ID10T w/ a Ba1100n
Pistol Pete and Repeat made apost and reply thread all on their own. Pete stopped replying so who was left?
ThG
clear sign of senility setting in.
Top Dog
Anand = jack hammer ???
TS
Sure sounds like it. So many personas by a few twisted posters here, it’s all a jumble of crazies…
The hockey God
Cosmos Update- what is happening above you all ?
Y’ll
This is a very quiet week in the sky, almost devoid of any special events. The Moon will be approaching full, making it there by April 15, and it’ll be a relatively small Full Moon because our celestial neighbor will be a tad more distant than it often is at full phase. The evening sky continues to see the Winter Hexagon sink into the west, and Mars and Jupiter still linger among its stars. Jupiter will shine at magnitude –1.9, gleaming from the stars of Taurus. Mars is fainter, but still a relative beacon at magnitude 0.7, floating between Cancer and Gemini. The Realm of the Galaxies rises a little earlier as each night passes, shoving the band of Milky Way to the side and allowing us to see into deep space, the region where springtime galaxies are calling for your attention in binoculars and telescopes.
Donald J Trump
If China shuts off the supply of pharmaceuticals to the US you would see millions of psychotics forced to go off their meds cold-turkey and be literally driven insane.
It would be devastating to the Democrat base.
Pistol Pete
Pistol Pete the poster whose primary intent is to provide thoughts for other TRUE VGK fans will say once again let’s hope for the return of Tomas Hertl in Denver. Less sincere “fans” are more than likely indifferent to whether Hertl will be available to help our team beat the Avs, choosing instead to fill our space today with off-topic postings. Since the Avs are the one remaining game where we will not be the betting odds favorites this is an opportune time to advance towards clinching the division (just 3 of 5 required).
mcart
I am guessing that it may occur on Saturday if the Avs beat LA Kings in the afternoon, and then if Vgk beat Nashville that night, then the Knights will clinch first place in the Pacific div
Pistol Pete
If the Kings lose just once more they can only make 105. In that case the VGK needs just 2 more wins.
ThG
more lib tard heads exploding today, market up, no recession today, more SC rulings against rogue judges; this is what winning looks like !
(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court blocked on Tuesday a judge’s order for President Donald Trump’s administration to rehire thousands of fired employees, acting in a dispute over his effort to slash the federal workforce and dismantle parts of the government.
The court put on hold San Francisco-based U.S. Judge William Alsup’s March 13 injunction requiring six federal agencies to reinstate thousands of recently hired probationary employees while litigation challenging the legality of the dismissals continues.
Tyler Durden
Hey dumbfuck the Dow ended up down another 300 points, and is gonna be red again tomorrow. Genius work from your dumb fuck leader who’s running the country like he runs his bankrupt casinos. Oh and the AP will be in the press room tomorrow because your idiot leader trump violated the 1st amendment of the constitution. But you assholes only like the 2nd amendment right?
knights fan in minny
not red today you dumb fuck your never right about anything tds king