Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz: Kings can take over 2nd wild card in tight West race

Welcome to the Stanley Cup Playoffs Buzz, a daily look at the races for the 2026 NHL postseason.

There are 16 days left in the regular season and the races for playoff spots and seeding are heating up. The top three teams in each of the four divisions and the next two highest-place finishers in each conference reach the playoffs.

Here is a look at the NHL standings and everything else that could impact the playoff picture.

Clinching scenarios

The Minnesota Wild will clinch a playoff berth:

* If the St. Louis Blues defeat the Los Angeles Kings in any fashion (9 p.m. ET; FDSNMW, FDSNW) OR the Anaheim Ducks defeat the San Jose Sharks in regulation (9 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT).

On Tap

There are three games on the NHL schedule Wednesday, all with playoff implications:

Vancouver Canucks at Colorado Avalanche (8:30 p.m. ET; ALT, SN, TVAS)

The Avalanche (49-14-10), the team with the most points in the NHL (108), can move closer to locking up first place in the Central Division and winning the Presidents' Trophy with a win against the Canucks (21-44-8), who are last in the League with 50 points, at Ball Arena. Colorado has won five of six, including 9-2 against the Calgary Flames on Monday, when the it scored five times in the first period and went 3-for-4 on the power play. The Avalanche lead the Dallas Stars by eight points in the race for first in the division and in the overall NHL standings. In addition, Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon will try to keep pace in the race for the Art Ross Trophy as the League's leading scorer. MacKinnon, who had a goal and two assists against the Flames, is third in the League with 120 points behind Connor McDavid (125) and Nikita Kucherov (121).

St. Louis Blues at Los Angeles Kings (9 p.m. ET; FDSNMW, FDSNW)

The Kings (29-26-18) can jump into the second wild card from the Western Conference before facing the team they're currently trailing by a point, the Nashville Predators, on Thursday. They haven't played since Saturday, when they lost 6-2 to the Utah Mammoth, and have two wins in their past eight games (2-3-3). The Blues (31-31-11) need a win to keep up in the crowded Western Conference wild-card race after losing 5-4 to the Sharks on Monday. They're four points behind the Predators with the Kings, Seattle Kraken, Sharks and Winnipeg Jets all ahead of them too. St. Louis went 10-2-2 in March to get back into the playoff race but will fall further behind with a loss in Los Angeles.

Anaheim Ducks at San Jose Sharks (9 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT)

The Sharks (34-31-7) have a chance to take advantage of a game in hand and potentially move into a playoff position with a win against the Ducks (41-28-5), who are first in the Pacific Division. San Jose is two points behind Nashville for the second wild card and one point behind the Kings. A win against Anaheim at SAP Center coupled with a loss of any kind for Los Angeles will move San Jose into the second wild-card position by the end of the night. The Sharks have a game in hand on the Kings and two on the Predators. The Ducks can move closer to clinching first in the division with a win. They're two points ahead of the second-place Edmonton Oilers with a game in hand.

If playoffs started Wednesday

Western Conference

(1P) Anaheim Ducks vs. (WC1) Utah Mammoth
(2P) Edmonton Oilers vs. (3P) Vegas Golden Knights
(1C) Colorado Avalanche vs. (WC2) Nashville Predators
(2C) Dallas Stars vs. (3C) Minnesota Wild

Eastern Conference

(1A) Buffalo Sabres vs. (WC1) Boston Bruins
(2A) Tampa Bay Lightning vs. (3A) Montreal Canadiens
(1M) Carolina Hurricanes vs. (WC2) Columbus Blue Jackets
(2M) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (3M) New York Islanders

About last night

There were 10 games on the NHL schedule Tuesday, all with playoff implications:

Boston Bruins 6, Dallas Stars 3: Viktor Arvidsson had a hat trick, including two empty-net goals, leading the Bruins to their fourth straight win and sixth in seven games. Henri Jokiharju and Elias Lindholm each had a goal and an assist, and David Pastrnak had three assists. Boston (43-24-8) remained two points behind the Montreal Canadiens for third place in the Atlantic Division. The Bruins have also built an eight-point cushion for a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with seven games remaining. The Stars (44-19-12) lost for the sixth time in seven games (1-4-2) but maintained a six-point lead on the Wild for second in the Central Division.

Buffalo Sabres 4, New York Islanders 3: Jack Quinn and Tage Thompson each had a goal and an assist to lift the Sabres back into first place in the Atlantic Division, two points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The win also gave Buffalo (46-21-8) its first 100-point season since 2009-10. Peyton Krebs gave the Sabres a 3-2 lead at 16:59 of the third period, and Bowen Byram scored into the empty net at 18:17 to make it 4-2, enough to hold off the Islanders, who got a goal from Brayden Schenn with two seconds remaining. The Islanders (42-29-5) lost their second game in as many days after falling 8-3 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday. They still hold a one-point lead on the Columbus Blue Jackets for third place in the Metropolitan Division and are three points above the playoff line in the Eastern Conference.

Montreal Canadiens 4, Tampa Bay Lightning 1: Cole Caufield and the Canadiens stayed hot to close to within two points of the Lightning for second in the Atlantic Division. Caufield scored for the third straight game and reached 300 NHL points in doing so. He has 10 goals in 10 games since March 14. Jakub Dobes made 36 saves for the Canadiens (43-21-10), who have won six in a row and seven of eight. Jake Guentzel scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves for the Lightning (46-22-6), who had their eight-game point streak end (6-0-2). They fell out of first place in the Atlantic Division with the loss to Montreal coupled with the Sabres defeating the Islanders.

Florida Panthers 6, Ottawa Senators 3: The Senators fell behind 5-0 in the first 14:36 of the game and did not have enough to recover as they failed to gain ground in the playoff race in the Eastern Conference. Michael Amadio had a goal and an assist, but Linus Ullmark was pulled after giving up five goals on 16 shots. The Senators (38-26-10) have lost three in a row and remain two points behind the Blue Jackets for the second wild card from the East. Matthew Tkachuk had four points (one goal, three assists) and the Panthers (36-35-3) fended off elimination with the win.

New York Rangers 4, New Jersey Devils 1: The Devils' faint playoff hopes did not improve with a loss at Madison Square Garden. Jacob Markstrom made 18 saves, and Connor Brown scored, but New Jersey (38-34-2) lost for the second time in three games and the third time in six. The Devils are 10 points out of a playoff spot with eight games to play, keeping them mathematically alive. The Rangers (31-35-9) are the only team in the Eastern Conference that has been officially eliminated from playoff contention.

Pittsburgh Penguins 5, Detroit Red Wings 1: The Penguins had five different goal scorers and 12 players with at least one point, led by Egor Chinakhov's goal and an assist, and Stuart Skinner made 23 saves in a win that helped them build a bigger cushion on the Islanders for second in the Metropolitan Division. Pittsburgh (38-21-16) has won three of four and leads New York by three points and Columbus by four in the division. Things are different for the Red Wings (39-27-8). John Gibson was pulled in a second straight start after allowing three goals on 14 shots in the first period, and Detroit lost for the fourth time in five games. The Red Wings are two points out of a wild-card spot. The only good news for them is the fact that the teams directly ahead of them (Columbus, Ottawa) and the one right behind them (Philadelphia Flyers) all lost too.

Washington Capitals 6, Philadelphia Flyers 4: Alex Ovechkin scored twice to reach 30 goals in a season for the 20th time in the NHL while also helping the Capitals gain ground in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Washington also put a sting into Philadelphia's playoff hopes with the regulation win. The Capitals (38-28-9) are three points behind the Blue Jackets for the second wild card. Tom Wilson also had two goals in his 900th NHL game, Pierre-Luc Dubois had four assists, and Jakob Chychrun had a goal and two assists for the Capitals. The Flyers (37-25-12) at least didn't lose ground because the Blue Jackets also lost, so they remain two points out of a wild-card position, tied with the Senators and Red Wings, one point ahead of the Capitals. Travis Sanheim and Christian Dvorak each had a goal and an assist, and Travis Konecny had two assists for the Flyers, who had an eight-game road winning streak end.

Carolina Hurricanes 5, Columbus Blue Jackets 2: The Hurricanes pulled away in the third period with goals from Nikolaj Ehlers at even strength and Andrei Svechnikov on the power play before Jordan Martinook scored a short-handed empty-net goal. Columbus erased Carolina's 2-0 lead in the first period with Kirill Marchenko's goal at 15:14 of the second and Adam Fantilli's goal at 2:07 of the first, but the Hurricanes (47-21-6) joined the Sabres as the two teams in the Eastern Conference with 100 points. Carolina is technically ahead of Buffalo because it has a game in hand and has an eight-point lead on Pittsburgh for first place in the Metropolitan Division. The Blue Jackets (38-25-12) are slumping at the wrong time. The loss was their fourth in a row (0-3-1), but with Ottawa, Detroit and Philadelphia all losing, they maintained their hold on the second wild card from the East. The Islanders' loss also kept the Blue Jackets one point behind them for third place in the Metropolitan Division.

Winnipeg Jets 4, Chicago Blackhawks 3 (OT): Kyle Connor scored 33 seconds into overtime, and the Jets held off Chicago's comeback and gained ground in the Western Conference playoff race. Winnipeg moved within one point of idle Nashville for the second wild card from the Western Conference. The Kings are also one point behind the Predators and have a game in hand on the Jets that they'll use Wednesday against the Blues. Josh Morrissey, Cole Perfetti and Isak Rosen each scored in the second period, Mark Scheifele had three assists, and Connor Hellebuyck made 18 saves for the Jets (32-30-12), who have won four of five and went 9-4-3 in March after beginning the month 10 points out of a playoff spot. The Blackhawks (27-34-14) are not yet mathematically eliminated from postseason contention but are nine points out of a playoff spot with seven games to remaining.

Edmonton Oilers 3, Seattle Kraken 0: Connor Ingram made 27 saves, and the Oilers never looked back after building a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Max Jones at 5:28 and Kasperi Kapanen at 12:43. McDavid added an empty-net goal at 17:34. Edmonton (38-28-9) has won four in a row for the first time this season and moved within two points of idle Anaheim for first place in the Pacific Division. The Kraken (32-30-11) lost for the 10th time in 13 games (3-8-2) since March 4. They are two points behind the Predators for the second wild card in the West but also have the Kings, Jets and Sharks in their way.