The 2023-24 NHL regular season is quickly coming to a close and that races both at the top and bottom have gotten tight.
The Carolina Hurricanes (109 points) currently sit one point behind the New York Rangers (110 points) for not only the top spot in the Metropolitan Division but also for the Presidents' Trophy as the NHL's top regular season club.
With two games remaining for both teams, here's how Carolina could capture it's first ever regular season title.
So obviously, the easiest path is for the Canes to simply take more points over their last two games than the Rangers take in theirs.
Carolina has a date with both the second worst team in the Western Conference (Chicago Blackhawks) as well as the worst team in the Eastern Conference (Columbus Blue Jackets).
So odds are, they win out, but as we all know, hockey is crazy.
New York on the other hand has to face the New York Islanders, who have gotten hot as of late and are looking to clinch a playoff berth this afternoon, as well as the Ottawa Senators who are just an incredibly unpredictable wild card.
So for New York, a regulation loss to either team would give the Hurricanes the needed gap to jump into the top spot if they win out.
There are also some other scenarios that can be kept in mind too.
In the case of a tie, the first tiebreaker is regulation wins.
Carolina is currently at 43 while New York is at 42.
If New York and Carolina end up in a tie for points and regulation wins somehow, the next tie breaker is regulation or overtime wins, which the Rangers have a 50 to 49 edge in.
Isn't math fun?
So technically, if the Rangers lose out in regulation and Carolina also loses out, but at least loses one in overtime/shootout, then they can still jump ahead of the Rangers.
But there are also two more chasers besides Carolina.
Both the Dallas Stars (109 points, two games left) and the Boston Bruins (107 points, three games left) have a shot at the Presidents' Trophy too if the games break in their favor.
But luckily for Carolina, neither Dallas (39 regulation wins) nor Boston (35 regulation wins) can jump them in the case of a tie.
So let's review:
The easiest path for Carolina is to win out (with at least one regulation win) and hope that the Rangers lose at least one of their last two games in any fashion.
If that happens, the Canes take the Presidents' Trophy.
Anything past that and you're just calculating too may variables.