Facts and figures: Blues cap turnaround with playoff berth

The St. Louis Blues (41-28-8) completed an improbable turnaround and
clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs
for the seventh time in eight seasons when the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Arizona Coyotes
3-2 in a shootout
at Pepsi Center on Friday.

The Blues, who were last in the NHL on Jan. 2 (15-18-4), advanced to the postseason despite
a 4-2 loss
to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. They are third in the Central Division, four points behind the Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators.
St. Louis is the seventh team in the NHL's expansion era (since 1967-68) to make the playoffs after being last in the League standings at any point after New Year's Day (minimum 20 games played). The others are the 1976-77 Minnesota North Stars, the 1979-80 Edmonton Oilers, the 1982-83 Toronto Maple Leafs, the 1987-88 Los Angeles Kings, the 1987-88 Maple Leafs and the 1996-97 Ottawa Senators.

Golden Knights advance to playoffs for second time in as many years

The Vegas Golden Knights (42-30-6) also benefited from Colorado's shootout win,
clinching a postseason berth
for the second time in as many NHL seasons despite
losing 3-2
to the Minnesota Wild at T-Mobile Arena.
Vegas is the seventh team in NHL history to make the playoffs in each of its first two seasons; the Golden Knights and Oilers as the only teams to do so in the post-expansion era -- excluding teams that joined the NHL in 1967 or earlier. The Oilers went on to extend their streak to 13 consecutive seasons, a run that saw them win the Stanley Cup four times from 1983-84 through 1989-90.

Avalanche, Wild boost playoff hopes

The Avalanche (36-29-13) and Wild (36-33-9) each earned pivotal victories in their pursuit of the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference:
Colorado survived a last-minute tying goal by the Coyotes (37-33-8), the team closest to them in the standings, to win in a shootout and extend their lead over Arizona for the second wild card to three points. Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon scored the only goal in the tiebreaker.

The Wild remained four points behind the Avalanche by holding off the Golden Knights. Devan Dubnyk made 35 saves to reach 30 wins for the fifth consecutive season. Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals (five) is the only other goalie with an active streak of at least five consecutive 30-win seasons.

Predators pull even with Jets in Central Division

The Nashville Predators pulled even in points with the Winnipeg Jets in the race for first place in the Central Division by
defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1
at PPG Paints Arena. Forward Viktor Arvidsson scored his 100th NHL goal for the Predators (44-28-6), who have four games remaining. Winnipeg (45-28-4) has five games left and hosts the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN360, CITY, SNE, SNW, SNP, NHL.TV) in its final home game of the season.
Among players to make their NHL debut with the Predators, Arvidsson became the fastest to reach 100 goals (274 games played), eclipsing the mark held by teammate Filip Forsberg (281). Among all players in Predators history, forward Jason Arnott required the fewest games to score 100 goals with Nashville (247).

Lightning aim to continue historic season

The League-leading Tampa Bay Lightning (59-14-4) will try to become the third team in NHL history to reach 60 wins in a season when they host the Washington Capitals at Amalie Arena on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SUN, NBCSWA, NHL.TV).
The Lightning would join the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings (62 wins) and 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens (60) as the only teams with at least 60 victories in a season. The Capitals (46-24-8) are in first place in the Metropolitan Division, three points ahead of the New York Islanders, but are 0-1-1 against the Lightning.
Washington forward Alex Ovechkin leads the NHL with 49 goals and is one shy of his eighth 50-goal season. The NHL record is nine, held by Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky.