Trending ▲, Trending ▼: Canadian clubs on verge of clinching
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Each week, theScore looks at the teams, players, and other hockey figures trending upward and taking a step back.
▲ Calgary Flames
The Flames missed a prime opportunity to clinch a playoff berth Wednesday night, but their 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings likely only delayed the inevitable.
Calgary holds an 11-point lead over Los Angeles, the last Western Conference team outside the postseason picture with any hope of getting in. Time is running out on the Kings, who need to go perfect over their final six games - and even that wouldn't guarantee them a spot.
It's essentially not a matter of if, but when for the Flames, which is commendable considering where they were last season, and earlier in this one.
Brian Elliott wasn't great Wednesday night, but he's improved as the season's progressed, and Calgary could certainly do worse than having a playoff-tested netminder in the fold as it prepares to make its return to the festivities after a one-year absence.
▼ New York Islanders
The post-Jack Capuano honeymoon is over for the Islanders, who got off to a great start in the Doug Weight era, but have plummeted since.
New York has lost two in a row and won only four of its last 10 games. While the Islanders still have a shot to squeeze into an Eastern Conference wild-card position, it's unlikely.
The Islanders have a 10.9 percent chance to get in, according to Sports Club Stats, and they'd need to leapfrog the Boston Bruins and the surging Tampa Bay Lightning.
It's not impossible, but it sure looks like the team that plays in Madison Square Garden will be the lone New York representative in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
▲ Montreal Canadiens
No Atlantic Division club has booked a ticket to the postseason dance yet, but that could change Thursday night.
The Canadiens can lock up a spot with a regulation or overtime win against the Florida Panthers, and while Montreal has basically gone wire-to-wire atop the division, it's closing out the regular season the right way.
A three-game sweep of the Ottawa Senators during an eight-day stretch earlier this month opened up some breathing room for Montreal in the Atlantic, and the Canadiens appear primed to put last season's disaster fully behind them with another playoff run.
▼ Florida Panthers
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
The Panthers haven't been lucky this season, but they also haven't been good.
Injuries to Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov put Florida in a hole earlier this season, while losing Roberto Luongo afterward didn't help. Now James Reimer's hurt, too.
Still, the Panthers have been surpassed by most of their Eastern Conference rivals because they simply haven't been able to score all year (23rd in goals per game at 2.53), and because their rate of power-play success has been woeful at 16.9 percent, sixth-worst in the NHL.
Florida's lost two straight and six of its last 10 games. And while the Panthers haven't yet been officially eliminated, that day is certainly coming soon.
After a historic campaign in 2015-16 and an active offseason spent locking up their core, it's surprising to see the Panthers' hopes all but extinguished this spring.
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