The playoff picture in the East is still extremely crowded, with wins last night by Ottawa, Columbus (in OT over Detroit), and Philadelphia, in addition to one point earned by the Bruins.

Detroit finally got a bigger game from Dylan Larkin, who put forward his first multi-point effort since February 26^th, with a goal and an assist. John Gibson stopped 32 of 35 shots in the loss.

Zach Werenski snapped his cold streak of only one point in his last six games, scoring his 22^nd of the season while adding an assist on Adam Fantilli's goal with 17 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. The goal moves him into a tie for second in D-man goal-scoring with rookie Matthew Schaefer, three behind Jakob Chychrun.

Chychrun has seen his shooting percentage drop off a bit since Cole Hutson joined the team, so we'll have to be aware that it could be a factor in his goal numbers dropping off a little next year.

Back to Columbus, Mason Marchment continued his hot run with the team, adding another assist, and if your league happens to count goalie points, then the rare power play assist for Jet Greaves was a nice bonus too on top of his 34 saves and the win.

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In a possible preview of a first round matchup 1.5 weeks from now (more on that later), neither of the Bruins or Canes received the goaltending they have been used to for most of the year, finishing with a final score of 6-5 in favour of the Canes, who clinch the division title with the win.

Jeremy Swayman allowed five goals early one before Joonas Korpisalo came in and shut the door with 16 saves before allowing the OT winner. Brandon Bussi allowed five goals and managed to stay in the game to earn the hard-fought win.

Morgan Geekie scored a hat-trick, bringing him to 37 on the season as he continues to set a new personal best this season in the goal and points columns. Nikita Zadorov and David Pastrnak each picked up two assists.

For Carolina, it was Andrei Svechnikov who opened the scoring with his 30^th of the season, which is the second time he has hit that threshold in his career (the first was back in 2021-22). After that, the depth took over, with K'Andre Miller, Willian Carrier, and the second line scoring the other four goals.

Logan Stankoven stayed hot with his 19^th of the season, giving him five goals and six points in the last five games. He went into the Olympic break at 10 goals, but now seems like a lock for 20 on the season. Linemate Jackson Blake put up two assists to bring himself past the 50-point marker for the first time in his career. Those two have been tied together on the second line for most of the season. The third member has most often been Taylor Hall (one goal last night), but Hall has also been cycled down to the fourth line not infrequently, which could be a risk for him next year as Bradley Nadeau looks to join the team full time. The obvious spot for him would be taking over Hall's second-line wing slot, and giving the line of Nadeau, Blake, and Stankoven a heavy dose of offensive zone starts while the other three lines carry more of the heavier matchups. All that to say, I like Nadeau's outlook for next year.

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Tampa and Ottawa could be another first round matchup if the Senators can hold onto the second wild card and if the Bolts manage to fend off the top group to clinch the top seed in the East.

Cameron Crotty (Sens defenceman) picked up his first NHL point, as Ottawa has been dealing with a lot of injuries and Crotty has slotted in for the last four games. He has been seeing more limited minutes on a third pair with Lassi Thomson, who has two points in seven games so far this year. With Thomas Chabot back skating for the first time since breaking his forearm, it could be that one or both of the young guys are back in the press box come playoff time.

Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle brought the bulk of the offence for the Sens, with a goal and six assists between them, to go with a pair of markers by Jake Sanderson. They were countered by two-point efforts from Corey Perry and Nick Paul. Ultimately Ottawa came out with the win, maybe partially due to the fact that Tampa was playing the second game of a back to back and Jonas Johansson was in net. Can't expect that kind of help in a seven-game series though, where the Bolts would be heavy favourites.

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Tyson Foerster and Trevor Zegras each scored a pair of goals on Jacob Markstrom, who continued to show that at 36 he just seems to have lost a bit of his speed, and he has been chasing games all season. His play has further tailed off in the final quarter though, and with Nico Daws in the wings, one has to wonder whether Dougie Hamilton isn't the only big contract that the Devils are shopping this summer.

Dan Vladar picked up his 27^th win of the season, which is now equal to his previous two best seasons combined. What a jump he has had into a starter role, as one of the best value goalies of the year.

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Matthew Tkachuk was unavailable for last night's contest in Montreal, as he was expecting the birth of his first child. It's possible he misses a couple more games on the road trip, as the Panthers have no need to rush him back into the lineup for the next two games against the Sens (Thursday) and Leafs (Saturday).

The Panthers got points from eight different players though, and managed to take the Habs to overtime, with the extra point holding them just outside of the bottom-five in the standings. The Habs ultimately came away with the shootout win though, after a last-minute goal by Nick Suzuki and a couple of shootout tallies from Cole Caufield (still stuck on 49-goals in case you hadn't heard) and Alex Texier.

Fun little moment during the morning skate, seeing Jacob Fowler watching Sergei Bobrovsky, perhaps more as a fan here than an opponent. Fowler has been steady when called upon lately, but it was Jakub Dobes earning his seventh straight win yesterday, making 30 saves in the 4-3 SO win.

In a scary moment Kirby Dach took a stick above the eye, but after five stitches it sounds like he should be back and available soon and no worse for the wear in the long run.

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Washington calling up Ilya Protas from the AHL to be their ace in the hole as a second line center for their longshot playoff push is quite the jump for him after being in the USHL two years ago. He has had a meteoric rise, playing one year each in the USHL, OHL, AHL, and now stepping into the NHL after lighting up each of those previous stops.

He’s lining up between his brother Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson, which would be terrifying to play against. Tom Wilson at 6’4″ and 225lbs might be the smallest one on that line (assuming the younger Protas has put on some weight since his most recent published numbers from last summer), and he is the shortest.

The Capitals could be losing Alex Ovechkin in the offseason, but they should be in good hands moving forward with their current core, as the management team has done a fantastic job of balancing selling off pieces with remaining competitive over the last few years.

He's set to make his NHL debut tonight against the Maple Leafs.

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Dallas went down early last night and mixed their lines up a bit to finish the game. It paid off with the OT win, and a two-goal performance from Wyatt Johnston.

Here's what the line combos looked like for the latter part of the game:

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Valeri Nichushkin and Nicolas Roy returned for the Avs, who are still missing Cale Makar for another few games. Nichushkin made sure that didn't matter though, as he potted two goals on six shots in the win.

Scott Wedgewood got the start last night, and it does seem like the pendulum is leaning in his favour for the start in game one of the playoffs. In his last 10 games he has won seven of them while putting up a 1.54 GAA and a .935 sv%.

To start off next season though, assuming Mackenzie Blackwood can have a healthy offseason, then I would expect his to return to being the de-facto number one in Colorado in the fall, seeing at least 50 starts on the season. Maybe some buy-low opportunity this summer depending on how the playoffs play out.

Joel Hofer started for St. Louis, which is three in a row for him, bringing him to 12 starts in the last 18 games. If he keeps close to that for next year he's a 50-game goalie on a Blues team that is not as bad as their place in the standings this year indicates.

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After putting up 32 points in 41 first-half games (62-point pace) Marcus Johansson was a prime sell-high candidate, and here's hoping you listened on that, as last night's two-point effort brings him up to 15-points in 30 second-half games (40-point pace). At 35-years old that hot first half is likely not going to be repeated again.

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For those that have already wrapped up their fantasy seasons, or don't have much left to contend for in the final week, there's always the playoff drafts to look ahead to:

Dobber's 20th (20!!) annual Interactive playoff draft list – out in early April (April 10) and updated right up until the playoffs! Use Dobber's own picks, or run your own playoff scenario using the brackets provided and print your own list! Preorder it here.

Dobber’s 2026 Interactive Playoff Draft List

Running your own scenarios, and trying to get a feel for which teams have an easier path through to the final or conference finals is the best way to find the ideal teams to target. Everyone is going to want a piece of Colorado, Dallas, and Minnesota as three of the top teams, but two of the three of them are going to be eliminated before round three begins, and it's tough to find a best guess as to who that will be.

Utah could be a popular pick moving over to the Pacific side of the bracket, while the winner of a possible Boston/Carolina first round could go a few rounds deep too. The Atlantic looks to be strong like the Central, where any one of the top-three teams could realistically win, though many are going to point to the experience for the Lightning as a reason that they will come out on top.

I think I am likely going to end up with a lot of shares from the Sabres, Oilers, and Bruins, with maybe sprinkling in a couple of my last picks on whoever makes the WC2 slot in the West, as Colorado is showing some holes lately, and there's a branch of the multiverse where Minnesota and Dallas beat eachother up and provide an upset route to one of Los Angeles, San Jose, or Nashville.

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Nashville jumped back into the final playoff spot with their 5-0 win last night over Anaheim. Justus Annunen stopped 43(!) shots for the shutout.

It was a penalty-filled contest, so there was lots of special teams, and Nashville's convincing win in that aspect bodes well for them heading into the playoffs. They only managed one power play goal from Filip Forsberg, but they killed off six minors of their own to preserve the shutout win.

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In yet another potential playoff preview, the Mammoth put down the Oilers in OT by a 6-5 score. Utah had six players record two points in the match, with five of them being the expected top names, and the last being Michael Carcone. The soon-to-be-30-year-old hit the 30-point milestone for the first time last night, and has added 140 SOG and Hits this season which has made him rosterable in some leagues.

The scoring for the Oilers was even more spread out, with only Connor McDavid recording two points, and another 11 players with one point. That brings McDavid back into the Art Ross lead with four games to go. Nikita Kucherov is only one point behind him and has played five fewer games. Does either one get rested in the final stretch, or will they both be chasing a scoring title?

Tristan Jarry had another poor showing with six goals against. The net for game one is likely Connor Ingram's to lose.

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Carter Hart won his third straight game and looks to be taking over as the main starter in Vegas, having to make only 11 saves in what was otherwise an unremarkable game between playoff-bound Vegas and the bottom-of-the-barrel Canucks.

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See you next Wednesday, and if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments you can find me on BlueSky @alexdmaclean.