Leafs Lottery Guide (Mar. 14): Leafs lost, Columbus won, Edmonton got a point

Edmonton didn't do themselves a favour playing to a shootout, but whatever keeps them climbing out of 2nd in the lottery is A-OK with me. The gap between the Leafs and Columbus got wider by another 2 points and it 4 right now. As The Norris pointed out yesterday, safest thing is for the Leafs to finish 4th in the lottery, so the farthest they drop is to 5th.

Since there are 12 games, and I'm a shorter on time this morning we'll just look at the lottery games today:

Detroit Red Wings at Philadelphia Flyers
Best Outcome: Philadelphia Wins
Just padding the points for the lower lottery teams

Chicago Blackhawks at San Jose Sharks
Best Outcome: San Jose wins
Same here here, plus maybe they'll knock Calgary out of the playoffs.

Florida Panthers at Carolina Hurricanes
Best Outcome: Carolina over Florida in Overtime
Must win here for Carolina to close that gap between 4th and 5th. A point for the Panthers pads their numbers.

New York Rangers at Buffalo Sabres
Best Outcome: Rangers in Regulation
Sabres are getting pick 1 or pick 2. If they lose it keeps Edmonton father from 1st in the lottery.

Toronto Maple Leafs at Vancouver Canucks
Best Outcome: Vancouver in regulation
Yeah yeah, bad fans cheer to lose, but no points means we stay where we are and away from 6th.

Winnipeg Jets at Tampa Bay Lightning
Best Outcome: Tampa Bay in regulation
This will keep Winnipeg out of the playoffs. Which is nice.

New Jersey Devils at Arizona Coyotes
Best Outcome: Arizona Wins in Overtime
Third is a longshot, but if the Coyotes get hot, it's maybe possible?

Calgary Flames at Colorado Avalanche
Best Outcome: Colorado wins
Collect those points you "hey mayyyybe we could make the playoffs?" thinkers.

Nashville Predators at Los Angeles Kings
Best Outcome: LA in regulation
Keep knocking Nashvilles pick lower.

There it is for Saturday. Go Canucks!

Ugh. I feel so dirty.

Here are the standings.