We are at the point in the season where the teams who have no chance or virtually no chance of making the playoffs start to record some unexpected victories. The reason is likely two-fold. First, a team out of contention has the immense pressure to win lifted off their shoulders. Players can stop squeezing the stick so hard and let up a little, reverting back to doing what got them there. Secondly, some of the top teams will rest or seriously limit their superstar’s ice time, thereby throwing the underdog a bone.

Looking back over the past few years, some teams that ended up just out of the playoffs closed the final ten games of the year with an excellent finishing kick. Last season, Buffalo ended the campaign in tenth place and on a 7-2-1 run. The season before that, Buffalo, Chicago and Edmonton all finished the year 6-3-1. In 2006-07, Toronto (6-3-1), Montreal (7-3-0) and Colorado (7-2-1) gave the eighth seeds a run for their money.