Crossing The NHL’s Atlantic Division: Week 20
By Tim Bayer
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
We’ve completed Week 20 of the NHL season, which means there are only about seven weeks left. The league is off until February 25 to accommodate player participation in the Olympics, which means our Crossing The Atlantic feature will be off for the next two weeks as well.
Last week, some teams continued their torrid hot streaks (Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins), others are just doing enough to stay near the top (Tampa Bay Lightning, Montreal Canadiens), a couple are keeping pace at the edge of the playoff race (Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators), while two teams are just playing for pride at this point (Florida Panthers, Buffalo Sabres).
It all makes for a pretty compelling final playoff stretch in the Atlantic Division. But before we get to that, plenty of Atlantic superstars (Phil Kessel, Pavel Datsyuk, Patrice Bergeron, Martin St. Louis, Ryan Miller, Erik Karlsson, Carey Price) are in Sochi right now, kicking off what will be a fantastic two weeks of the craziest international hockey tournament in the world.
It’s a good time to be a hockey fan.