6 things you need to know about the final day of the regular season
It's almost the most wonderful time of the year.
There's just one more 10-game slate before the Stanley Cup Playoffs, kids, and here's what you need to know about the finish line.
Mission 100
Edmonton Oilers phenom and soon-to-be-crowned Art Ross Trophy champion Connor McDavid picked up an assist Saturday night against the Canucks to give him 98 points on the season.
The 20-year-old is riding a 13-game point streak (seven goals, 16 assists) and needs two more points to hit the century mark in only his second campaign in the NHL. Kid's good.
The good news: McDavid's Oilers are up against the Canucks again, this time at home.
Prediction: He's hitting 100. Probably 101. It's Vancouver, after all.
Capitals or Senators?
The Toronto Maple Leafs clinched a playoff berth - there's something you don't write every year - with a game to spare, but No. 82 matters. Like, a lot.
A Toronto win or overtime/shootout loss Sunday means the Maple Leafs finish third in the Atlantic Division, setting up another postseason series with the Ottawa Senators, their provincial rivals.
Fact: Toronto has never lost to Ottawa in the playoffs.
A regulation-time loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets means Toronto gets the NHL-best Washington Capitals in the first round. No bueno.
Columbus has lost six in a row. It wants and needs to stop the bleeding before Game 1 on the road against the Pittsburgh Penguins. And while a playoff spot ensures the Maple Leafs' season is a success, Toronto must avoid Washington at all costs if it wants to do something special - why not? - with its spring.
There's more: Toronto's No. 1 goalie Frederik Andersen's status is up in the air after he was Tom Sestito'd Saturday. It may be Curtis McElhinney against the team that waived him earlier this season. That enough drama for you?
Sun sets on the Pacific
The Pacific Division is still up for grabs as the sun sets on the regular season.
Not only is young McDavid going for 100 points, he's looking for another win.
Here's the deal: If the Oilers win in any fashion and the Anaheim Ducks lose to the Los Angeles Kings in regulation, Edmonton wins the Pacific and gets the Calgary Flames at home in the first round. (Yes, please!)
If Anaheim gets a point, it wins the Pacific for the fifth straight season and gets the Flames, meaning an Oilers-San Jose Sharks first-round series.
There's a bloody lot to play for Sunday.
So long, Joe Louis
The Detroit Red Wings would have preferred to say goodbye to Joe Louis Arena during the postseason, but everything ends, even 25-year playoff streaks.
Sunday is the final game at iconic Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, and, sorry PETA, there will be octopuses. The Red Wings are moving to Little Caesars Arena next season.
The Devils are in town. A favor, if we may, New Jersey: Please let Riley Sheahan score. The 25-year-old is goalless through 79 games. He's put 106 pucks on net. We know the hockey gods are unfair, but this is now bordering on cruel.
Wouldn't it be something if Sheahan scored the final goal at the Joe?
Zetterberg's 1,000th
A little more intrigue to the Joe Louis finale.
Sunday's affair is Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg's 1,000th regular-season game. The Swede, drafted a remarkable 210th overall in 1999, is a Stanley Cup champion, the face of the Red Wings and everything they stand for, and the pride of the red and white. How's that for timing?
"I couldn't have picked a better game to have my 1,000th," Zetterberg said, according to MLive.com's Ansar Khan. And we wholeheartedly agree.
Detroit and its exceptional captain deserve a win as the curtain falls on its storied barn. Sorry, New Jersey, it's nothing personal, and surely you understand.
Goodbyes
Bryan Bickell plays his final NHL game Sunday, his career over after a multiple sclerosis diagnosis last November. He'll be remembered as a champion, and a fighter.
The Colorado Avalanche play Game 82 on Sunday, and thank god for that. What a disaster. The best - we use the term as lightly as possible - the club can do is finish with 50 points. Fifty! Keep Jared Bednar in your thoughts this offseason.
Say it ain't so, Jarome. Sunday could also be Jarome Iginla's final game in the NHL, though we refuse to believe that's the case. While he was mercifully traded by Colorado at the deadline, it was unfortunately to Los Angeles, on the outside of the playoff picture. It should have been you, Calgary.
Enjoy the final day of the regular season. The best is yet to come.
(Photos courtesy: Action Images)