With just a handful of games remaining and just a handful of teams having actually clinched playoff spots, it looks like this season could see some of the tightest playoff races in a long time. And that naturally lends itself to a bit of that whiplash-inducing phenomenon that is the constant scoreboard watch.

Here in DC our eyes are probably focused on one team at this point – the Devils of New Jersey, our closest competitor and the team with whom we are battling it out for second place in the conference. Sure, you could check in on those scrappy Hurricanes from time to time…but they have an eight point deficit to overcome, five games remaining in which to do it and one more game played than the Caps. Compare that to the neck-in-neck battle the Caps and Canes engaged in last year and this year’s Southeast war barely registers.

And for everyone who is still freaking out? Remember that at this time last year the Caps trailed the Hurricanes by two to four points, had played the same number of games and still had to win every single remaining game to squeak in. I’m not saying that Carolina can’t catch the Caps, but it’ll be an uphill battle for sure – especially having already won 6 in a row. One Caps’ win and one Canes’ loss

Now if you really want a taste of the drama you could be like me and find a secondary team to pique your interest. For heart-wrenching, adrenalin-rushing, live-or-die moments that take your breath away, I highly recommend latching on to the Canadiens – but really just about any team in the East will do at this point.

But for those who remain loyal to just one team, not being in the clusterfu-…er, the mix provides the opportunity to participate in a sort of passive form of scoreboard-watching. Rather than hoping a team wins or loses based on whether they will push us out of the postseason we can engage in a series of what-ifs – in other words, what if we play Team X in the playoffs?

So would you rather deal with Sean Avery, Henrik Lundqvist and a scrappy but lackluster Rangers team, or the high-powered offense and unpredictable goaltending of a red-hot Penguins team? How about a pre-teen Conn Smythe winner backstopping a team that has brought back some of their Cup-winning parts in Carolina? A slumping but potentially dangerous (…ha?) Canadiens team or a Panthers team light on talent but dying for a taste of the playoffs or even a Flyers team that for whatever reason has proven to be among the toughest teams for the Caps this year?

Right now there are 3 points separating 4th through 7th place; 1 point separates 8th from 9th; and only 10 points stand between 4th and 10th. The Caps will probably not know who they play in the first round until the final day of the season, and between now and then there are 32 games left that involve those teams – many of which will feature two of those teams facing off.

And so it does almost become an art form, keeping up with the scores and deciding whether you’d rather see one team lose to stay out of 6th/7th or see them win to keep another team from getting too far or so on. Juggling what amounts to seven different teams, any number of whom are playing on any given night, can be exhausting and yet exhilerating as we catch a preview of what may be coming.

So get those heads on a swivel, warm up the computer and tune your TV to NHL Network – we’ve got a long way to go but just a short time left!

…what, you expected actual analysis and in-depth perspective of hockey from me? After taking 5 days (um, oops) off from blogging? On a Monday, no less?

Silly people.

- It’s days like today that I’m reminded where my true hockey loyalties lie. The Rangers-Devils game tonight could impact the playoff positioning of both of my teams, the Caps (duh) and the Canadiens. Yet even though I know that the Habs are fighting for a spot in general while the Caps are likely looking at a second seed vs a third seed, and that New York sits just a mere point ahead of struggling Montreal…I’m putting all my support behind the Rangers tonight. The Habs will just have to learn how to win their own damn games for a change.

- You know, sometimes being a lifelong hockey fan doesn’t exempt you from learning new things about hockey. For example, sitting behind the Caps’ bench on Friday night I discovered that when the teams switch nets in the second, they also switch where they sit on the bench – the forwards and defensemen flip sides and then switch back for the third period. It of course makes perfect sense, which is probably why it never occurred to me before.

Let’s move on, now that I’ve lost any credibility whatsoever and caused all of you to question why you even come here…

- The working title for the Sean Avery biopic is…Puckface. Because that’s not an easy one to mock. (H/t to Puck Daddy, by way of Gawker.com, by way of the New York Times…how’s that for the incestuous world of the blogosphere, huh?)

- So let me get this straight: the Islanders shut out the Red Wings and force the Flyers to a shootout; the Flyers, meanwhile, can’t figure out Tim Thomas but the Hurricanes can figure out Martin Brodeur. Zdeno Chara is going to win the Norris Trophy even though his lesser-known teammate, Dennis Wideman, is much more deserving. The Sabres are still in the playoff race while the Habs are in serious danger of falling out of it.

Oh, and the Caps don’t play again until Wednesday. Yup…this season is insane.

- Evgeni Malkin elbows Wayne Simmonds in the head last week – no suspension. Maxim Lapierre hits Patrick Kaleta from behind Saturday night – no suspension. Milan Lucic hits Mikhail Grabovski up high, also Saturday night – no suspension. But sure, the topic we should all be focusing on for a good two to three weeks is whether Ovechkin’s innocent goal celebration was over the top. Good plan, NHL.

- Your magic number for clinching the Southeast Division: 3

- If you haven’t read Corey Masisak’s piece from this weekend on the Caps’ Russian contingent, do so immediately. You won’t be sorry.

- Apparently Mike Green has the flu…which means whatever was wrong with him before wasn’t flu-related at all. It also means that next year the entire Caps team is taking a field trip to get flu shots. Hey, come on, guys – free lollipops!!

I’ve never been very good at playoff math – at least not when it involves more than one or two points. Small numbers, that’s my forte.

All I know is that somehow this:

…led to this:

What do you know? A reason to like the Sabres.

Last year, with seven games remaining, the Caps were two points out of a playoff spot and five points behind division-leading Carolina. Their first trip to the postseason in years was nowhere near secure – in fact, it would take seven straight wins to finish out the season atop the Southeast Division.

This year, with seven games remaining, the Caps have clinched a playoff spot and are poised (although definitely not guaranteed) to repeat their Southeast title.

Despite the occasional slumps, the worrisome games, the injuries, even the lackluster shootout loss they posted just yesterday, the Caps are a much better team today than they were a year ago – what a difference that year can make.

Playoff-bound, baby!

Whew! That game last night was…thrilling. So thrilling it took me almost 12 hours to scrape up my undead brain cells in able to post something – anything – about that game.

So here goes…a few questions that don’t really need an answer:

- How many of you were already penciling in that extra point the minute Curtis Joseph stepped onto the ice?

- And how many of you expected someone who is by all counts a step down from Martin flipping Gerber to come out and not only stone the Caps in the remaining minute of the game but also through five minutes of overtime and three shootout participants?

- Why is Tomas Fleischmann still getting 13-14 minutes of ice time a night?

- And how does John Erskine get three shots on goal to Flash’s one?

- Speaking of Erskine, how much longer does he need to play as well as he has before we start thinking his new contract is a steal? [CC's Note: I'm thinking a little longer...]

- One and a half power plays? Really?

- 45 shots on goal and only two go in? Really??

- Who looked paler and more sickly on the bench – Brooks Laich, Alexander Semin or Matt Bradley? Or was it an 18-player tie?

- Is it time for the playoffs yet?

We’re going to wrap this whole thing up with a quick (ha!) two-parter with some final conclusions, general observations, and I’m sure many more things that will piss off fans from both sides. Fun!

First up, we have a special guest contributor in the Cheap Seats – Hooks Orpik of Pensburgh fame kindly sent along some thoughts by email and I thought it only fair to present his side to the debate because they were great. All while getting the last word, of course, as is my way…you’ll find his responses in bold, mine in italics.

Take it away, Hooks:
(more…)

A few assorted goodies as we shake off the rust of a disappointing loss and ready ourselves for another week…

- It was surprising to see Cherry actually give an actual, legitimate opinion in a calm and collected manner last night – even if it was rather toothless, and even though he couldn’t “remember” Ovie’s first name. And agreed, as funny as I found it the planned celebration was well beneath Ovechkin’s class level for sure. No one’s expecting a repeat. That being said, one wonders if this whole Celebrationgate thing even happens if Cherry just keeps his trap shut in the first place. At any rate, at least we’re hopefully done with it for now…

- Man, the Penguins’ powder blue jerseys sure are ugly. Whose idea was it to make a hockey jersey in any color with the word ‘powder’ in it, anyway?

- The Bruins take on the Devils this afternoon. And guess what? We probably want the Devils to win (in regulation, please) – we’ll have to catch them both anyway if we want first in the conference, better to keep the Bruins close. Still, something about being in bed with the Devils is a little disturbing. Or incredibly, horrifically disturbing.

- Your magic number for clinching a playoff spot/division title: four.

- Watching last night’s game, it was hard to fight the feeling that by the third period the Caps were just done with this whole regular season crap.

- Watching last night’s Habs game, it was hard to fight the feeling that by the opening faceoff, Montreal was just done with this whole season crap. Ugh. Any good golf courses in Quebec?

- The roster we have right now is a good one and there’s no telling what can be accomplished with them once the playoffs get going. I’m not going to lie, though – I’d love to have someone like Mike Richards on this Caps team heading into the postseason.

- If the playoffs started today, we’d play the Hurricanes. If the Rangers win today, the Hurricanes lose their next game and the playoffs started Monday, we’d play the Rangers. Since Pittsburgh lost today, if the Hurricanes win their next game and the playoffs started Monday…we’d play Pittsburgh. Pick your poison at this point. (And yes, I could go on and on.)

- Speaking of Pittsburgh, still working on that follow-up post about our two fanbases. I got some interesting stuff courtesy of some very courteous – and some not so courteous – Pens fans that I think is worth sharing, including thoughts from Seth over at Empty Netters and Hooks Orpik of Pensburgh. Unless no one is interested anymore, since it comes about 27 years after the original post…let me know what you think, guys!

- Fun idea of the day: put Eddie Olczyk, Mike Milbury, Pierre McGuire, Doc Emrick, the Altitude commentators, Jack Edwards of NESN, Keith Jones and Don Cherry on a rocket ship and shoot them all into space. Seriously.

Have a good week, everyone!