The bottom-half of the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference this season has been called a turtle race. The six teams at the top of the conference have been chugging towards the playoffs for most of the season. But the pack hasn’t separated, with the rise and then falls of teams like Detroit, Philadelphia and Washington which has opened the door for chase teams in the NY Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins to catch all the way up to them.
As a result, there are two playoff spots available between the five teams. Fittingly, no one of these teams had over a 50% chance of the playoffs as of yesterday.