The NHL Playoffs are Shaping Up

With roughly two weeks left in the regular season, the playoff picture is beginning to shape up. In both conferences, the bulk of the teams going into the NHL’s proverbial second season are pretty much set. The order in which they’ll enter is what is left to be determined.

The Pacific Division has been a spotlighted-division for much of this season, and mostly over the past month. The Dallas Stars skyrocketed to the top of the division posting a 12-2 record for the month of February. Since that streak, and since the beginning of March, the Stars are 1-7, and have fallen to third in the Pacific.

During the Stars freefall, the San Jose Sharks made their run to the top of the Pacific, and in all likelihood will finish there as the regular season concludes.

So back to the question surrounding this march towards the playoffs, who will end up where.

For the Dallas Stars, making the playoffs should not worry the team. Their magic number is three points, and should they not make that on their own, it would take Nashville getting wins in four of their last five, and the Stars to subsequently lose every game. One Stars win, coupled with one Nashville loss, gets the Stars in.

Once all is said and done, the Stars will most likely end up in a five or six seed. The past two seasons, the Stars have been a five and six seed respectively, and have not made it out of the first round in either season.

Looking at the potential matchups, the Stars will most likely encounter Calgary or Anaheim in the first round. Both of these teams pose a threat to the Stars, since both have solid veteran leadership and outstanding goaltending.

With that in mind, the Stars have had the numbers of both of these potential opponents this season, having winning records in both season series. But as all hockey fans know, the playoffs bring a new mentality to all teams who make it, and regular season streaks mean little, if anything.

This season could be the year where Marty Turco exorcises his playoff demons, and helps the Stars make another run at the Holy Grail of the sporting world.