There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to the playoff scenarios, so let’s break things down.
WHERE IT STANDS NOW
The six playoff spots from the Atlantic Division are set. Hershey, Charlotte, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Providence will be the top four seeds, while Lehigh Valley and Springfield will be the fifth and sixth seeds - but the exact order for all of that remains to be decided.TOP SPOT
The defending champion Bears reign atop the division but haven’t quite locked in the number-one spot in the playoffs, as the Checkers still have an outside shot at the division title. Charlotte is five points back of Hershey with three games remaining and would overtake first place if it wins all three contests while the Bears lose all three in regulation (if this same scenario were to play out but the Bears earned one standings point, the two sides would require a tiebreaker - which we’ll get into later).EARNING A BYE
The battle for the second seed - which, like the top seed, comes with a first-round bye - is the big one coming down the stretch.- Checkers (3 games left)
- Current points: 88
- Max points: 94
- Penguins (3 games left)
- Current points: 86
- Max points: 92
- Bruins (2 games left)
- Current points: 86
- Max points: 90
That max points number goes down as teams fail to collect points in games, and once a team currently has more points than another team’s max points, that means they can’t be caught.
TIEBREAKERS
In the event of a tie between two teams, there are a series of tiebreakers that would be used to decide who finished ahead. The first is regulation wins, then regulation & overtime wins, then wins in any manner, then points in the season series between the two teams - there are more beyond that but let’s just stop there.Here’s how things look in those columns:
- Checkers (3 games left)
- Regulation wins: 33
- Regulation & overtime wins: 39
- Wins: 41
- Head-to-head: Win over Penguins & Bruins
- Penguins (3 games left)
- Regulation wins: 32
- Regulation & overtime wins: 37
- Wins: 39
- Head-to-head: Lose to Checkers & Bruins
- Bruins (2 games left)
- Regulation wins: 32
- Regulation & overtime wins: 35
- Wins: 39
- Head-to-head: Lose to Checkers, Win over Penguins
TONIGHT
With all that laid out, there’s a scenario with the games on Wednesday night that could lock some things into place.The Checkers are playing in Hartford at 7, while the Penguins host the Bruins at 7:05. If the Checkers win in regulation and the Penguins lose in regulation, Charlotte would clinch a first-round bye as one of the top two seeds in the Atlantic Division.
So tune in with AHLTV on FloHockey and buckle up!
