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Although six teams have clinched a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference half of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs bracket, there is a fierce battle being contested for those final two spots among five teams. Two of them play against each other Thursday.

The Detroit Red Wings visit the Pittsburgh Penguins (7 p.m. ET, NHL Power Play on ESPN+), with both attempting to overtake the Washington Capitals, who play the Buffalo Sabres (7 p.m. ET, NHL Power Play on ESPN+).

Prior to Thursday’s games, the Capitals hold the second wild-card position, with 85 points and 29 regulation wins through 78 games; the Red Wings (84 and 27 through 78 games) and Penguins (84 and 31 through 78 games) are right on the Caps’ heels, and the Philadelphia Flyers (83 and 28 through 79 games) are just behind them (although their recent 1-6-3 stretch has torpedoed their playoff chances, generally). The Flyers face the tall task of skating against the juggernaut New York Rangers on Thursday night (7 p.m. ET, NHL Power Play on ESPN+).

For all of the non-Detroit teams, another avenue to the playoffs exists by way of the No. 3 seed in the Metro Division. The New York Islanders hold that position, with 87 points and 27 regulation wins through 78 games ahead of their game against the Montreal Canadiens (7:30 p.m. ET, NHL Power Play on ESPN+).

As has been the case seemingly every night for the past two weeks, expect some major movement in the chaotic Eastern wild-card race tonight!

As we traverse the final stretch of the regular season, it’s time to check in on all the playoff races — along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2024 NHL draft lottery.

Note: Playoff chances are via Stathletes.

Jump ahead:
Current playoff matchups
Clinching scenarios
Thursday’s schedule
Wednesday’s scores
Expanded standings
Race for No. 1 pick

Current playoff matchups

Eastern Conference

A1 Boston Bruins vs. WC1 Tampa Bay Lightning
A2 Florida Panthers vs. A3 Toronto Maple Leafs
M1 New York Rangers vs. WC2 Washington Capitals
M2 Carolina Hurricanes vs. M3 New York Islanders

Western Conference

C1 Dallas Stars vs. WC2 Vegas Golden Knights
C2 Colorado Avalanche vs. C3 Winnipeg Jets
P1 Vancouver Canucks vs. WC1 Nashville Predators
P2 Edmonton Oilers vs. P3 Los Angeles Kings


Clinching scenarios

1. The Los Angeles Kings will clinch a playoff berth with a win against the Calgary Flames in any fashion.

2. The Dallas Stars will clinch the Central Division title with a win over the Winnipeg Jets in any fashion.


Thursday’s games

Note: All times ET. All games not on TNT or NHL Network are available via NHL Power Play, which is included in an ESPN+ subscription (local blackout restrictions apply).

Washington Capitals at Buffalo Sabres, 7 p.m.
New Jersey Devils at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m.
Ottawa Senators at Tampa Bay Lightning, 7 p.m.
Columbus Blue Jackets at Florida Panthers, 7 p.m.
Philadelphia Flyers at New York Rangers, 7 p.m.
Detroit Red Wings at Pittsburgh Penguins, 7 p.m.
Montreal Canadiens at New York Islanders, 7:30 p.m.
Winnipeg Jets at Dallas Stars, 8 p.m.
San Jose Sharks at Seattle Kraken, 10 p.m.
Calgary Flames at Los Angeles Kings, 10:30 p.m.


Wednesday’s scoreboard

St. Louis Blues 5, Chicago Blackhawks 2
Edmonton Oilers 5, Vegas Golden Knights 1
Arizona Coyotes 4, Vancouver Canucks 3 (OT)


Expanded standings

Atlantic Division

Points: 107
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: A1
Games left: 3
Points pace: 111
Next game: @ PIT (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 104
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: A2
Games left: 3
Points pace: 108
Next game: vs. CBJ (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 101
Regulation wins: 33
Playoff position: A3
Games left: 4
Points pace: 106
Next game: vs. NJ (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 95
Regulation wins: 36
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 4
Points pace: 100
Next game: vs. OTT (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 84
Regulation wins: 27
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 4
Points pace: 88
Next game: @ PIT (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 33.2%
Tragic number: 7

Points: 79
Regulation wins: 31
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 3
Points pace: 82
Next game: vs. WSH (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: 1

Points: 72
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 4
Points pace: 76
Next game: @ TB (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Points: 72
Regulation wins: 20
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 4
Points pace: 76
Next game: @ NYI (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E


Metropolitan Division

Points: 110
Regulation wins: 42
Playoff position: M1
Games left: 3
Points pace: 114
Next game: vs. PHI (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 107
Regulation wins: 42
Playoff position: M2
Games left: 3
Points pace: 111
Next game: @ STL (Friday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 87
Regulation wins: 27
Playoff position: M3
Games left: 4
Points pace: 92
Next game: vs. MTL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 83.5%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 85
Regulation wins: 29
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 4
Points pace: 89
Next game: @ BUF (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 44.4%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 84
Regulation wins: 31
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 4
Points pace: 88
Next game: vs. DET (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 34.5%
Tragic number: 8

Points: 83
Regulation wins: 28
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 3
Points pace: 86
Next game: @ NYR (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 4.4%
Tragic number: 4

Points: 79
Regulation wins: 32
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 3
Points pace: 82
Next game: @ TOR (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: 1

Points: 64
Regulation wins: 20
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 3
Points pace: 66
Next game: @ FLA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E


Central Division

Points: 109
Regulation wins: 39
Playoff position: C1
Games left: 3
Points pace: 113
Next game: vs. WPG (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 104
Regulation wins: 41
Playoff position: C2
Games left: 3
Points pace: 108
Next game: vs. WPG (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 102
Regulation wins: 42
Playoff position: C3
Games left: 4
Points pace: 107
Next game: @ DAL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 95
Regulation wins: 36
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 3
Points pace: 99
Next game: @ CHI (Friday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 89
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 3
Points pace: 92
Next game: vs. CAR (Friday)
Playoff chances: 0.5%
Tragic number: 3

Points: 83
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 4
Points pace: 87
Next game: @ VGK (Friday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Points: 73
Regulation wins: 27
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 3
Points pace: 76
Next game: @ EDM (Friday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Points: 51
Regulation wins: 17
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 4
Points pace: 54
Next game: vs. NSH (Friday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E


Pacific Division

Points: 105
Regulation wins: 42
Playoff position: P1
Games left: 3
Points pace: 109
Next game: @ EDM (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 101
Regulation wins: 38
Playoff position: P2
Games left: 5
Points pace: 108
Next game: vs. ARI (Friday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 93
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: P3
Games left: 4
Points pace: 98
Next game: vs. CGY (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 92
Regulation wins: 32
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 4
Points pace: 97
Next game: vs. MIN (Friday)
Playoff chances: 99.6%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 79
Regulation wins: 27
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 5
Points pace: 84
Next game: vs. SJ (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Points: 75
Regulation wins: 29
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 5
Points pace: 80
Next game: @ LA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Points: 57
Regulation wins: 20
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 3
Points pace: 59
Next game: vs. CGY (Friday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Points: 45
Regulation wins: 13
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 4
Points pace: 47
Next game: @ SEA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

p — clinched Presidents’ Trophy
y — clinched division
x — clinched playoff berth
e — eliminated from playoff contention


Race for the No. 1 pick

The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the draw for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process can be found here. Sitting No. 1 on the draft board for this summer is Macklin Celebrini, a freshman at Boston University.

Points: 45
Regulation wins: 13

Points: 51
Regulation wins: 17

Points: 57
Regulation wins: 20

Points: 64
Regulation wins: 20

Points: 72
Regulation wins: 20

Points: 72
Regulation wins: 24

Points: 73
Regulation wins: 27

Points: 75
Regulation wins: 29

Points: 79
Regulation wins: 27

Points: 79
Regulation wins: 31

Points: 79
Regulation wins: 32

Points: 83
Regulation wins: 28

Points: 83
Regulation wins: 30

Points: 84
Regulation wins: 27

Points: 84
Regulation wins: 31

Points: 89
Regulation wins: 30

* The Penguins’ first-round pick was traded to the Sharks as part of the Erik Karlsson trade. However, it is top-10 protected.

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Giants sell 10% stake to private equity firm

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Giants sell 10% stake to private equity firm

The San Francisco Giants have sold a reported 10% stake in the team to private equity firm Sixth Street.

The team confirmed the deal Tuesday but not the amount of the investment, which was first reported Monday by the New York Times.

Sportico places the value of the franchise and its team-related holdings at $4.2 billion.

Sixth Street’s investment, reportedly approved by Major League Baseball on Monday, will go toward upgrades to Oracle Park and the Giants’ training facilities in Scottsdale, Arizona, as well as Mission Rock, the team’s real estate development project located across McCovey Cove from the ballpark.

Giants president and CEO Larry Baer called it the “first significant investment in three decades” and said the money would not be spent on players.

“This is not about a stockpile for the next Aaron Judge,” Baer told the New York Times. “This is about improvements to the ballpark, making big bets on San Francisco and the community around us, and having the firepower to take us into the next generation.”

Sixth Street is the primary owner of National Women’s Soccer League franchise Bay FC. It also has investments in the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs and Spanish soccer powers Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

“We believe in the future of San Francisco, and our sports franchises like the Giants are critical ambassadors for our city of innovation, showcasing to the world what’s only made possible here,” Sixth Street co-founder and CEO Alan Waxman said in the news release. “We believe in Larry and the leadership team’s vision for this exciting new era, and we’re proud to be partnering with them as they execute the next chapter of San Francisco Giants success.”

Founded in 2009 and based in San Francisco, Sixth Street has assets totaling $75 billion, according to Front Office Sports.

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Ohtani ‘nervous’ in Tokyo but gets 2 hits, runs

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Ohtani 'nervous' in Tokyo but gets 2 hits, runs

TOKYO — Shohei Ohtani seems impervious to a variety of conditions that afflict most humans — nerves, anxiety, distraction — but it took playing a regular-season big-league game in his home country to change all of that.

After the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ Opening Day 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs in the Tokyo Dome, Ohtani made a surprising admission. “It’s been a while since I felt this nervous playing a game,” he said. “It took me four or five innings.”

Ohtani had two hits and scored twice, and one of his outs was a hard liner that left his bat at more than 96 mph, so the nerves weren’t obvious from the outside. But clearly the moment, and its weeklong buildup, altered his usually stoic demeanor.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Shohei nervous,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But one thing I did notice was how emotional he got during the Japanese national anthem. I thought that was telling.”

As the Dodgers began the defense of last year’s World Series win, it became a night to showcase the five Japanese players on the two teams. For the first time in league history, two Japanese pitchers — the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Cubs’ Shota Imanaga — faced each other on Opening Day. Both pitched well, with Imanaga throwing four hitless innings before being removed after 69 pitches.

“Seventy was kind of the number we had for Shota,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “It was the right time to take him out.”

The Dodgers agreed, scoring three in the fifth inning off reliever Ben Brown. Imanaga kept the Dodgers off balance, but his career-high four walks created two stressful innings that ran up his pitch count.

Yamamoto rode the adrenaline of pitching in his home country, routinely hitting 98 with his fastball and vexing the Cubs with a diving splitter over the course of five three-hit innings. He threw with a kind of abandon, finding a freedom that often eluded him last year in his first year in America.

“I think last year to this year, the confidence and conviction he has throwing the fastball in the strike zone is night and day,” Roberts said. “If he can continue to do that, I see no reason he won’t be in the Cy Young conversation this season.”

Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki went hitless in four at bats — the Cubs had only three hits, none in the final four innings against four relievers out of the Dodgers’ loaded bullpen — and rookie Roki Sasaki will make his first start of his Dodger career in the second and final game of the series Wednesday.

“I don’t think there was a Japanese baseball player in this country who wasn’t watching tonight,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers were without Mookie Betts, who left Japan on Monday after it was decided his illness would not allow him to play in this series. And less than an hour before game time, first baseman Freddie Freeman was scratched with what the team termed “left rib discomfort,” a recurrence of an injury he first sustained during last year’s playoffs.

The night started with a pregame celebration that felt like an Olympic opening ceremony in a lesser key. There were Pikachus on the field and a vaguely threatening video depicting the Dodgers and Cubs as Monster vs. Monster. World home-run king Saduharu Oh was on the field before the game, and Roberts called meeting Oh “a dream come true.”

For the most part, the crowd was subdued, as if it couldn’t decide who or what to root for, other than Ohtani. It was admittedly confounding: throughout the first five innings, if fans rooted for the Dodgers they were rooting against Imanaga, but rooting for the Cubs meant rooting against Yamamoto. Ohtani, whose every movement is treated with a rare sense of wonder, presented no such conflict.

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Cardinals shortstop Winn out with wrist soreness

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Cardinals shortstop Winn out with wrist soreness

JUPITER, Fla. — St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn was scratched from the lineup for their exhibition game on Tuesday because of soreness in his right wrist.

Winn was replaced by Jose Barrero in the Grapefruit League matchup with the Miami Marlins, with the regular-season opener nine days away. Winn, who was a 2020 second-round draft pick by the Cardinals, emerged as a productive everyday player during his rookie year in 2024. He batted .267 with 15 home runs, 11 stolen bases and 57 RBIs in 150 games and was named as one of three finalists for the National League Gold Glove Award that went to Ezequiel Tovar of the Colorado Rockies.

Winn had minor surgery after the season to remove a cyst from his hand. In 14 spring training games, he’s batting .098 (4 for 41) with 12 strikeouts.

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