The Carolina Hurricanes can be one of the first teams to clinch a playoff berth this season depending on how tonight's slate of games breaks.
The Vancouver Canucks were the first team with a chance to clinch, but a 3-2 loss to the LA Kings last night has them still waiting.
Now it's the East's turn as Carolina is one of four teams that can potentially clinch alongside the New York Rangers, Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins.
Here's how it can happen:
- The Hurricanes earn more points tonight than the Detroit Red Wings (vs. Washington Capitals).
- The Hurricanes win and the Philadelphia Flyers (vs. New York Rangers) lose in regulation
- The Hurricanes win, the Flyers lose in overtime or a shootout and the Capitals lose in regulation.
So fate isn't entirely in Carolina's hands, but them taking care of their side of the deal is still essential.
The Canes currently have 97 points in the standings and can earn a maximum total of 117 this season.
They're 16 points up on the third place Flyers, 18 points up on the Capitals who occupy the last wild card spot and 19 points up on Detroit who is the top team currently outside of a playoff spot.
Philly can only earn a maximum of 101 points, Washington a maximum of 103 (the two also play each other for the last game of the regular season, so they can't both mathematically end up with the maximum) and Detroit a maximum of 100.
So Carolina can grab 99 points tonight and then a mixture of losses for the other three can see their maximum fall either to or below that threshold (the Hurricanes already have the tiebreakers locked up).
Bottom line, Carolina is like 99.99% assured for the playoffs, but tonight that number can become 100%.