Heading into the final day of the NHL regular season on Thursday, the Anaheim Ducks still can finish anywhere from second in the Pacific Division to the second Western Conference wild-card spot.
A lot of that depends on their result against the host Nashville Predators on Thursday evening, but also the final score in the Edmonton Oilers-Vancouver Canucks game and the Los Angeles Kings-Calgary Flames game.
The latter two contests are scheduled to start an hour after the Ducks-Predators matchup.
Edmonton (40-30-11, 91 points) sits second in the Pacific Division, one point ahead of the Ducks (42-33-6, 90 points) and Kings (35-26-20, 90 points), and the Oilers own the tiebreaker over both. All three teams have clinched playoff berths.
Edmonton had hoped to be playing for its first division title since 1986-87, but the Vegas Golden Knights clinched the Pacific with a 4-1 win against the visiting Seattle Kraken on Wednesday.
Anaheim supporters hope that spoils Edmonton’s motivation against Vancouver and opens the door for the Ducks to leapfrog the Oilers for second place in the Pacific and earn home-ice in their first-round playoff series with a win against Nashville.
Anaheim owns the tiebreaker over Los Angeles, leaving the Kings in the second wild-card spot entering Thursday.
If the Oilers and Kings win on Thursday and the Ducks lose in any fashion to the Predators, Anaheim would drop into the second wild card, where it would face a first-round series against the Colorado Avalanche, owners of the best record in the NHL.
The Ducks have done little to help their standing in the past nine games, going 1-6-2 to lose their grip on first place in the Pacific and potentially home-ice advantage in the first round.
“Regardless of where we end up, it’s playoff hockey,” Ducks forward Ryan Poehling said. “Anything can happen, and for us to just be on top of our game and just kind of take care of what we can I think is the biggest thing. So, we’ve got one more (game) to kind of go through a rehearsal and then real hockey starts.”
The Predators (38-33-10, 86 points) made a big splash in free agency two years ago when they signed forwards Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault and defenseman Brady Skjei to big contracts, but the trio has yet to lead them to the playoffs.
Nashville was eliminated from postseason contention on Monday when it lost 3-2 to the visiting San Jose Sharks.
“Came here with playoff aspirations, right?” Stamkos said. “So, we failed the last two years and that’s what’s so hard.”
The Predators need to hire a new general manager because Barry Trotz is retiring after the season. Stamkos has been around long enough to know that the new GM could take the team in a variety of directions.
“Someone could come here and say we want to complete tear down and rebuild and that’s the way it’s going to go,” Stamkos said. “We could have someone come in here and say, ‘Listen, you guys were close this year. We believe in the older guys and the core of this team and we want to help build that with bringing in even more younger guys and impact players.’ I think that’s the route we all hope for, but there are too many unknowns right now with regards to the future of the team.”
