The Eastern Conference playoff race is now the Wild East, with a four-way tie for the second wild card. That empty net goal in October or a garbage time pickup in December might come into play, as goal-differential is the fifth tie-breaker. The Pittsburgh Penguins are just above the fray, but need some wins this weekend. Our Penguins Q&A focused on the goaltending and some lineup weak spots.<\/p>\n
In the Daily, we\u2019ve got the teams to root for today and the games to watch.<\/p>\n
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Also, I\u2019m humbled by the support for our playoff travel. We raised enough last evening for the first couple of games (assuming I can drive to the game). When we made the travel budget and schedule last August, we didn\u2019t anticipate the playoffs. I\u2019ve been funding the last couple out of my pocket, which\u2014yes\u2014does hurt. If you\u2019d like to keep us on the road, you can buy me a coffee here.<\/a> Thank you guys so much!<\/p>\n Let\u2019s jump right in.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh Penguins<\/p>\n Pittsburgh Hockey Now: We\u2019ll start with the Q&A. No holds barred, and I did not spare feelings. The goalie situation needs a lot of explanation and discussion, sans the emotion. The Penguins Q&A<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Would I have liked the Penguins to call up Murashov earlier this season? Yep. As one reader put it, sadly, it\u2019s too late now. That\u2019s just one scenario we got into.<\/p>\n The Penguins lost a prospect this week and also released an explanation and update on Caleb Jones<\/a>.<\/p>\n NHL Rumors, Playoff Race, Games to Watch<\/p>\n The Philadelphia Flyers. Columbus Blue Jackets. Ottawa Senators. Detroit Red Wings. All have 88 points. Gentlemen, start your engines.<\/p>\n Philly Hockey Now: Oh boy. The orange and black just made a jumbled playoff race an absolute mess. A four-car pileup. The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Islanders, and now the Flyers are in a four-way tie for the second wild card<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Yes, I\u2019m kind of loving it. I\u2019m glad the Penguins aren\u2019t in it (yet).<\/p>\n Detroit Hockey Now: How are they surviving? They were a playoff lock, then left for dead, now the Detroit Red Wings are in the logjam but have one game in hand on everyone. Bob Duff has the key to the Red Wings chances<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ottawa Sun: Ottawa has fought its way back into the race, but is doing so without its top defensemen\u2014yes, plural. They took another hit, as Tyler Klevens will be out, too. Jake Sanderson is racing back, but it\u2019s a mess on the blue<\/a>.<\/p>\n Columbus Dispatch: It\u2019s time to \u201cput up or shut up.\u201d The Columbus Blue Jackets\u2019 second-half surge was extraordinary, but they eventually ran out of rocket fuel and are in the jam, too. Now, they\u2019re girding for the final push<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Games to Watch<\/p>\n Detroit visits the New York Rangers at 12:30. The game is on ABC.<\/p>\n Ottawa hosts the Minnesota Wild. No, not an easy game. The puck drops at 1 p.m.<\/p>\n The Buffalo Sabres can clinch their first playoff spot in 13 years when they visit the Washington Capitals. A Buffalo win would essentially end any longshot Capitals\u2019 hopes.<\/p>\n The Islanders have to visit the Carolina Hurricanes. It\u2019s a rivalry game for Carolina, and not a blowoff. That puck drops at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n And Columbus hosts the Winnipeg Jets at 7 p.m., who have inched back into the Western Conference playoff race. That won\u2019t be an easy one either.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Of course, the Penguins host the Florida Panthers for a weekend set at PPG Paints Arena. The puck drop today is at 5 p.m.<\/p>\n The post Dan\u2019s Daily: 4-Way Tie in East?! Penguins Goaltending; Games to Watch Today<\/a> appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n Related Headlines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Eastern Conference playoff race is now the Wild East, with a four-way tie for the second wild…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5113],"tags":[229,29,230,93,2217,57,5,122,1338,38,35,4,72,25,118,56,1469,6830,100,5216,19783,2171,61875,109,18],"class_list":{"0":"post-540532","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-penguins","8":"tag-buffalo-sabres","9":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","10":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","11":"tag-detroit-red-wings","12":"tag-eastern-conference","13":"tag-florida-panthers","14":"tag-hockey","15":"tag-islanders","16":"tag-jake-sanderson","17":"tag-minnesota-wild","18":"tag-new-york-rangers","19":"tag-nhl","20":"tag-ottawa","21":"tag-ottawa-senators","22":"tag-penguins","23":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","24":"tag-pittsburgh","25":"tag-pittsburgh-hockey","26":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","27":"tag-pittsburghpenguins","28":"tag-playoff-race","29":"tag-the-penguins","30":"tag-the-wild-east","31":"tag-washington-capitals","32":"tag-winnipeg-jets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116347381411223045","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}