Tomorrow, the Red Wings will face off against the St. Louis Blues in their final game of the season. Fortunately (or not), the game doesn’t mean anything to the Wings now. With Columbus’ victory over the Florida Panthers tonight, the very best the Wings can do with a win is reach 93 points and a tie with the Jackets. If this happens, Columbus will still keep the first Wild Card seeding thanks to the NHL’s tiebreaker procedures in which regulation or overtime wins makes the difference. Unless somehow the Wings find a way to squeeze 6 ROWs out of a single game against the Blues, Detroit will finish 8th in the Eastern Conference.
In a way, it’s nice to know beforehand. The Red Wings already recalled defensemen Xavier Ouellet and Ryan Sproul from Grand Rapids tonight, presumably to play tomorrow in case this was the result. The Blues will be playing for something tomorrow, as a win would give them the opportunity to win the Central Division (if Colorado loses to Anaheim tomorrow).
This would be the difference for the Blues between playing Chicago in the first round and playing Minnesota. It’s not hard to guess which one they’d prefer. I’d like for the Wings to play spoiler, but ultimately, I care more about not getting anybody injured in what is now a meaningless game.
Let’s go Red Wings.
