It's going to go right down to the wire for four of the five teams in the Atlantic Division.  The New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins will be battling each other for the top of the Atlantic Division, and implicitly fighting the Buffalo Sabres for whether the Atlantic Division will have the second or third seed in the East.  They have the exact same record, meaning the Devils have the advantage based on head-to-head record (6-0).   Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Flyers are suddenly finding themselves back on the playoff bubble and needing points to stay ahead of the New York Rangers. The Rangers have had the good fortune of teams losing in front of him and playing well to win games to give themselves an actual shot at sneaking in the playoffs.  As for the New York Islanders, they have one role for this final week (+1) of NHL games: spoiler.

It's the final division snapshot of the season.  Who knew it was going to be this interesting right to the end?

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With an actual winning week (2-0-1), the New Jersey Devils have retaken the Atlantic Division lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the past week.  But it is by the slimmest of margins: tiebreakers.  Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Flyers remain in third but have fallen so far as to now being in eighth place.  All of their problems are catching up to them at exactly the wrong time of the season.  Despite a 2-1-1 record last week, It's still bleak for the New York Rangers to make the playoffs, but they sit in tenth with a very outside shot. The New York Islanders also had a positive week but they are reasonably eliminated at this point.

It's the next-to-last weekly snapshot for this season.  While the division is likely only to send three teams to the playoffs; the big question will be where they are seeded.  If you're looking for a preview of tonight's Devils-Flyers game, please go here instead.

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(Looking for the game preview for tonight's game against Edmonton? Go here. Thanks.)

For the first time since November 22, the New Jersey Devils are no longer in first in the Atlantic Division for these weekly snapshots.  I know some will be thinking that the Devils' loss in Calgary contributed to this; but as I pointed out last Sunday, the Pittsburgh Penguins only needed to sweep the week to do it since they played one more game than the Devils.  Well, the Penguins went ahead and did exactly that.  The big difference is, of course, the lead in the division.

In the meantime, the Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers, and New York Islanders had mixed weeks. Enough to stay where they were, but not enough to move up - which the Rangers and Islanders need to do and quickly.

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Well, that was an entertaining 2010 Winter Olympics hockey tournament.  However, that's now in the past.  It's time to return focus on the NHL and the first week of what should be a busy March.  Right away, there are games and the NHL trade deadline on Wednesday.  The New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins will both hope the break does them well to be more consistently good. The Philadelphia Flyers will hope the break doesn't break their stride as they won their last 4 games. The  New York Rangers and  New York Islanders hope they'll come right off the break to pick up points and jump back in the playoff race in the Eastern Conference.

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February 14 will be a special day for many: it is the last day of games before the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics takes place and the league goes on a two week break.  Rather having a one day week next Sunday, I'm stretching this one to eight days.

The New Jersey Devils continue to struggle, slump, stumble, and other words that don't begin with 's' with respect to dropping games. This past week was another losing record and by virtue of the Pittsburgh Penguins dropping one game and the Devils miraculously winning one, they remain in first.  This will not continue if the Devils continue to lose, the Penguins can definitely catch the Devils this week.  I may emphasize in my recaps about how the losses happen (heartbreaking blowing of a lead against LA, out-and-out terrible against Toronto, running into a wall of a goalie at MSG), but the standings don't care about the how - it's just results.  And they haven't been good.

The Atlantic Division as a whole didn't have a great week, though. The Penguins were the only team to manage a winning record with two wins and a loss.  The New York Rangers snapped their losing streak with two wins, but still lost the other two games they had so they didn't catch the Philadelphia Flyers, whose one win was enough to stay up in the East's top eight.  The New York Islanders have the worst situation as they have lost all three games last week, now seven in a row.

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