Canadiens Clinch (Part 2)

The Montreal Canadiens clinched the Northeast Division with a win over the sliding Ottawa Senators. They are currently tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for first overall in the East.

The Washington Capitals beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 to move into a tie atop the Southeast Division. Alex Ovechkin scored another goal to bring his season total to 63. The Hurricanes still lead the Division because of a tie-breaker.

The New Jersey Devils defeated the New York Islanders in overtime to keep alive in the fight for the Atlantic title with Pittsburgh.

And the Buffalo Sabres kept their slim chances alive with a shootout victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In the Western Conference, the Nashville Predators battled back from a 3-goal first period deficit to beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3 in OT. Neither starting goalie completed the game as Preds goalie Dan Ellis got pulled after allowing three quick scores and Manny Legace left after the first period with a hip flexor injury.

The Calgary Flames eliminated the Oilers from playoff contention with a 3-2 victory and the Colorado Avalanche came back from two down to beat the Canucks 4-2. Peter Forsberg scored his first goal since signing with the Avs right before the trade deadline.

Teams that have now secured a playoff berth: Montreal, Pittsburgh, NJ, Detroit, San Jose, Minnesota, defending champion Anaheim, the Dallas Stars and Colorado.

Nuggets Take Over #8

The Denver Nuggets beat the Phoenix Suns 126-120 last night. Coupled with the San Antonio Spurs 116-92 thrashing of the Golden State Warriors, it boosts them into the eighth spot in the West. Dallas is still in 7th. Both the Warriors and the Mavs have a game in hand on Denver.

At the top of the Conference, New Orleans won again to keep a slight lead over the aforementioned Spurs.

Long Hair Decision

And in case anyone is wondering, the main question at the Owners’ Meeting, about whether players with long hair violate the “dress code” (Brought forward by the Kansas City Chiefs), was shelved until May.

Defensive Radios Accepted

NFL owners have voted in favor of allowing coaches to communicate with one defensive player on the field via a radio in the players helmet. Last year the final tally was two short of passing, but with a 25-7 margin this time around, it becomes an active policy. As Dallas Cowboys coach Wade Phillips noted, if this measure had been given the okay last year, SpyGate wouldn’t have been an issue. Then again, I guess it required an incident involving this topic to get enough votes.