Four of the NHL’s six division titles are still very much in play as we head into the homestretch of a regular season that ends on April 8. Only the New York Rangers in the Atlantic and the Vancouver Canucks in the Northwest are really home free for a first-place finish and guaranteed top-three seeding, and of these two, only the Rangers are in complete command for the race for the #1 seed in their conference. Everything else is neck-and-neck.
The Washington Capitals have done whatever they can in recent weeks to play themselves out of a chance at postseason redemption. The Caps have fallen four points behind a less-talented Panthers team in the NHL’s Southeast Division, and this is a division so poor that right now it stands to get just one team in the playoffs. Friday’s NHL card is highlighted by a Panthers-Caps game down in the Sunshine State and if there were ever a time for Alex Ovechkin to show he’s more than just another pretty face, tonight would be good place to start