The Leafs are finishing 29th this season. Maybe 30th. It's not really much of a discussion at this point.
Ottawa on the other hand, after a pretty incredible run of wins are sitting pretty in 3rd this morning. However upon further review, is their lock on a playoff spot all that secure?
Of the top 12 playoff seeds in the NHL (top 6 in each conference), Ottawa are the only team who have allowed more goals than they have scored. Ottawa's top goalie Elliott has a 9.07 save % which is the same as Giguere, and the latter has a losing record because of it. In short, Ottawa's goaltending while great during stretches is not exactly carrying the team when you tack on Leclaire's .891%.
Looking at the points table, Ottawa have played more games than everybody else in the conference except the Habs. Yet, Ottawa only have a 1 point lead on Buffalo which is the difference between 3rd and 5th, and while the Rangers in 9th are a whole 11 points back of the Sens, it's the kind of distance that can be traversed quickly with a coinciding losing and winning streak of any kind.
My guess is there are too many teams chasing for them all to catch up to Ottawa and Ottawa will get at least a 6th seed. But are Sens fans a little nervous about these last 18 games? After all, we saw what happened to the Sens the last time they won a ton of games in a row during a season. It wasn't pretty.
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