NHL Playoff Death Watch: Islanders dip to the wild card

Since we're down to the final moments of postseason life for teams in contention, Puck Daddy solemnly begins a daily countdown to annihilation.

The New York Islanders’ loss to the (Tyler Seguin-less) Dallas Stars on Saturday night allowed the Pittsburgh Penguins to leapfrog them into the No. 3 seed in the Metro Division, and knocked the Isles to the wild card.

The good news? The Penguins defeated the Flyers, meaning that Philly didn’t gain any ground on the Islanders. The bad news? The Flyers remain five points back of the Islanders, with two games against New York still on the schedule, including Monday night in Brooklyn.

The Detroit Red Wings, meanwhile, pulled out a win against Kevin Spacey and the Florida Panthers, moving three points up on the Flyers, who still have two game in-hand.

Here are the current standings. The Death Watch tracks the final Wild Card spot and the teams that are chasing it. Their “tragic number” is the number of points gained by the final wild card team or lost by the team chasing it.

All playoff percentages are from Sports Club Stats; tragic numbers and other figures via the NHL. A team is eliminated from play-offs when their "Tragic Number" hits 0.

The Eastern Conference picture, via the NHL:

Here are the latest Eastern Conference playoff odds from Sports Club Stats:

Meanwhile, in the West, the Colorado Avalanche and the Minnesota Wild are both in action on Sunday: The Avs at the Edmonton Oilers and the Wild at the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Hawks have made this interesting by going 4-5-1 in their last 10 games while the Predators have gone 6-2-2. Still, the Preds are the odds-on favorite to secure the first wild card.

Here’s the Western Conference picture:

Here are the latest Western Conference playoff odds from Sports Club Stats:

Yes, Calgary and Arizona are still mathematically in the hunt. But those tragic numbers are creeping into single digits.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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