The Western Conference matchups have been determined:
#1 Detroit Red wings will face the 8th seeded Nashville Predators.
#2 San Jose Sharks tak on the #7 Calgary Flames.
The #3 Wild face the new 6th seed, Colorado. The Avs won 4-3 in a shootout over the Wild today to claim the sixth spot… and a series with Minnesota.
The defending Stanley Cup winners, the #4 Anaheim Ducks will host the Dallas Stars who have the 5th seed.
Only one game left in the regular season. Then the fun begins!
The Philadelphia Flyers vaulted into sixth place and as an added bonus, prevented cross-state rival Pittsburgh from winning the Eastern Conference. Goals from Scott Upshall and Mike Knuble, along with spotless goaltending from Martin Biron, helped the Flyers beat the Penguins 2-0.
The Pens loss also gave the Montreal Canadiens their first Eastern Conference title since the 1988-89 season.
Pittsburgh needed to win to take the top spot and would have faced Philly in round one.
Now Pittsburgh will play the Ottawa Senators in the first series, the Canadiens get Boston, and the Washington Capitals will play the Flyers. Depending on the outcome of a shootout (In progress), the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils will play each other at either MSG or “The Rock”.
New Jersey prevails 3-2 and will stay at home for the best-of-seven series.
Carl Edwards was able to do his trademark back-flip yet again. He won at Texas Motor Speedway in a two- lap overtime, giving him his third victory of the season. Edwards led 123 laps of the 339 lap race and is now 10th in driver points. runner-up jumped four spots and sits in 6th. And Johnson’s former teammate Kyle Busch finished third, moving up two spots into 3rd overall.
Now the question, was it a mistake by Hendrick Motorsports to keep Casey Mears and get rid of Busch to get Dale Jr.? Mears sits in the 26th position currently.
A day after the Denver Nuggets lost to put Golden State and Denver in a tie for the eighth seed out West, the Warriors lost to the West-leading New Orleans Hornets 108-96. Golden State now trails the Nuggets by a 1/2 game for the final playoff position. The 7th place Dallas Mavericks are currently playing the Phoenix Suns.
New Orleans on the other hand, increased its lead in the Western Conference to 2 games over the Los Angeles Lakers and defending champion San Antonio Spurs.
MVP candidate Chris Paul, of the Hornets recorded his fourth career triple-double with 16 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds.
The Warriors Monta Ellis had 35 points to lead them; Peja Stojakovic and David West each scored 25 points for New Orleans.
The Mavs were down 11 after three quarters, but held the usually high-scoring Suns to only 9 points in the fourth, coming away with a 105-98 win. Dirk Nowitzki led all players with 32 points. Dallas also strengthened its hold on the 7th spot in the West, increasing their lead over #8 Denver to a game and a half.
A new development! Denver fell in two overtimes to Seattle restoring the tie for eighth. Denver has now lost back-to-back games against non-playoff contenders.
