The NHL's Team of the Week for March 30

With less than two weeks till the 2014-15 NHL regular season concludes, it's getting down to do-or-die time for the teams that are still struggling to lock down playoff berths.

One team is going to get left out of the game of musical chairs in the Western Conference. The Minnesota Wild are now clear of the turmoil, but four teams—the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets and Los Angeles Kings—are still fighting it out for the last three western playoff spots.

In the East, the Boston Bruins had just a moment to breathe after the Ottawa Senators faltered before discovering the hard-charging Florida Panthers are now equally hot on their heels.

Some of the best individual performances of this week came from teams caught up in these playoff races.

Others happened on teams well outside the playoff picture—the Columbus Blue Jackets, Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars all enjoyed impressive weeks.

Players helping their teams' playoff causes get due respect on this week's Team of the Week, but a strong finish when there's not much left to play for also deserves some acknowledgement.

Here's your Team of the Week for games played between March 23-29.

Left Wing: Jonathan Huberdeau

Jana Chytilova/Getty Images

Last Week's Stats

4 GP, 2-4-6

Why He Impressed

As the Ottawa Senators have stumbled after goaltender Andrew Hammond was injured in a collision with Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks on March 23, the Florida Panthers have stepped up to keep pressure on the Boston Bruins for that last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

At age 43, right wing Jaromir Jagr is older than both his linemates combined. Nonetheless, he has formed a dangerous Panthers first line with 19-year-old center Aleksander Barkov and 21-year-old left wing Jonathan Huberdeau.

This week, it was the 2013 Calder Trophy winner Huberdeau who cashed in on the scoresheet with six points. The Panthers beat Ottawa on Sunday, went 2-1-1 for the week and moved within four points of the surging Bruins.

The odds of Florida displacing both Boston and Ottawa are slim, but after finishing 29th overall last season, the Panthers have taken a big step forward just by getting themselves back within sniffing distance of a postseason berth.

Honorable Mentions

• Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado Avalanche (4 GP, 2-4-6)
• Jamie Benn, Dallas Stars (4 GP, 4-1-5)

Center: Ryan O'Reilly

Andy Devlin/Getty Images

Last Week's Stats

4 GP, 1-7-8

Why He Impressed

In the stacked Central Division, the Colorado Avalanche currently sit in seventh place out of seven teams, making it virtually impossible for them to slide back into playoff contention. Undeterred, center Ryan O'Reilly enjoyed one of the best weeks of his career over his last four games.

O'Reilly has 52 points in 75 games this season. He earned eight of them last week—assisting on both goals in Colorado's 3-2 loss to Calgary on Monday, then picking up a goal and two assists when the Avs dropped a 4-3 decision to Edmonton on Wednesday.

On Thursday night, he had two assists in his team's handy 4-1 win over Vancouver, then he capped off the week with an assist in Colorado's 5-3 win over Buffalo.

All told, O'Reilly had a hand in eight of 14 goals scored by the Avs last week and is now on a seven-game point streak. At 24, he continues to tease with his talent but has yet to reach the next level as one of the NHL's top-level stars.

Honorable Mentions

• Mike Ribeiro, Nashville Predators (4 GP, 2-4-6, one game-winning goal)
• Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes (4 GP, 2-4-6, one game-winning goal)

Right Wing: Cam Atkinson

Scott Rovak/Getty Images

Last Week's Stats

3 GP, 4-3-7, hat trick vs. Chicago Blackhawks on March 27

Why He Impressed

The hottest team in the NHL over the past two weeks has been the Columbus Blue Jackets. They've won six straight games—five of them on the road—and have scored at three goals or more in each of their last 10 games.

This week's scoring star is diminutive winger Cam Atkinson. His three multipoint games over the last week helped lift the Jackets to wins over Anaheim, Chicago and St. Louis.

The 25-year-old needs just one more goal and three more points to tie the career highs he set last season—21 goals and 40 points.

Atkinson's surge comes after he signed a three-year contract extension with the Blue Jackets on March 2 worth a total of $10.5 million, according to Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch. The early return on investment for that contract is looking very good for general manager Jarmo Kekalainen.

Honorable Mentions

• Jaromir Jagr, Florida Panthers (4 GP, 2-3-5, one game-winning goal)
• Radim Vrbata, Vancouver Canucks (3 GP, 2-3-5, one game-winning goal)

Defense: Deryk Engelland

Bruce Kluckhohn/Getty Images

Last Week's Stats

4 GP, 2-2-4, plus-3, 6 shots

Why He Impressed

Deryk Engelland was the punchline of the 2014 free-agent frenzy—a 32-year-old stay-at-home defenseman who had never scored more than 17 points in his career but bounced his salary from a cap hit of $567,000 a year all the way to $2.917 million when he signed with the Calgary Flames last July 1, per NHLNumbers.com.

Engelland may have justified Calgary's entire three-year investment with his play last week—contributing two goals to help the Flames earn a single point in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars on Wednesday, then chipping in two assists as Calgary defeated Nashville 5-2 on Sunday.

On Sunday, Calgary regained the upper hand over the Los Angeles Kings in the battle for the last playoff spot in the Pacific Division by a single point. The Flames will continue to need contributions from unlikely heroes like Engelland if they hope to stave off the Stanley Cup champions and reach the postseason for the first time in six years.

Honorable mentions for defense appear on the next slide.

Defense: Dustin Byfuglien

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Last Week's Stats

2 GP, 3-0-3, even plus-minus, 6 shots

Why He Impressed

After Dustin Byfuglien was sidelined with an upper-body injury on March 7, the Winnipeg Jets weathered the loss of one of their most important players pretty well, going 6-3-0 in his absence.

Hulking Byfuglien made an immediate impact upon his return, scoring two goals in Winnipeg's 5-2 win over Montreal on Thursday and adding another in his team's 4-3 loss to Chicago on Saturday.

As the Jets fight to make the playoffs for the first time since their relocation to Winnipeg, Byfuglien has shown that he can be a difference-maker during his team's final six games. The Jets are a different team when Big Buff's in the lineup.

Honorable Mentions

• Roman Josi, Nashville Predators (4 GP, 1-3-4, minus-1, 8 shots)
• Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Arizona Coyotes (3 GP, 1-3-4, plus-1, 8 shots)

Goal: Devan Dubnyk

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Last Week's Stats

4 GP, 4-0-0, 5 goals against, .962 save percentage

Why He Impressed

He's still doing it.

Two-and-a-half months after being acquired from the Arizona Coyotes, Devan Dubnyk is still carrying the load and winning games for the Minnesota Wild.

Not only is Minnesota now comfortably slotted into a playoff spot, the Wild even pushed Chicago down to the wild card for a hot minute on Saturday thanks to a perfect 4-0 week.

Dubnyk has now played every minute for the Wild since he came in to relieve Darcy Kuemper midway through a 5-4 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on January 20. That's 30 straight starts and 24 wins—more than the mere 16 wins a team needs at playoff time to get on a roll and win the Stanley Cup.

So far, Dubnyk is showing no signs of tiring, but he has now been in playoff mode for more than two months. Can he keep his streak rolling along once the real second season begins in two weeks' time?

Honorable Mentions

• Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins (3 GP, 2-0-1, 4 goals against, 1 shutout, .948 save percentage)
• Cam Ward, Carolina Hurricanes (2 GP, 2-0-0, 3 goals against, .941 save percentage)

Coach: Todd Richards

Andy Marlin/Getty Images

Last Week's Stats 

3-0-0, 14 goals for, 7 goals against

Why He Impressed

The Columbus Blue Jackets have dropped well out of playoff contention this season, but as some key players return from injury, the team is offering a tantalizing glimpse into its promising future.

It won't matter in the postseason picture, but Columbus is currently the hottest team in the league with a six-game winning streak.

After sweeping the three Western Canadian teams on the road last week, the Blue Jackets came home for one game to win a 5-3 decision over the Anaheim Ducks before heading back out to beat St. Louis and Chicago in back-to-back weekend contests.

The Jackets are not just winning; they're winning consistently against tough opponents and scoring plenty of goals along the way.

Though Columbus currently remains 24th overall in the NHL standings, the team's strong finish offers plenty of hope for what lies ahead. It may also have saved the jobs of some of the team's coaches and front-office staff.

Head coach Todd Richards deserves credit for keeping his players engaged and giving them something to play for during what has proven to be a lost season thanks to a never-ending string of injuries.

Honorable Mentions

• Mike Yeo, Minnesota Wild (4-0-0)
• Peter Laviolette, Nashville Predators (3-1-0)

All stats courtesy of NHL.com.