Tampa Bay Lightning are leading the way in the 2018-19 NHL season, dominating the Eastern Conference and laying down a marker for the rest of the League.
After losing out in the Conference Finals to the eventual Stanley Cup champions Washington Capitals last year, the Lightning were rated as narrow favourites in a wide open competition this year, according to the implied probabilities displayed on the Bigbetbookmakers.com site, but they have made it a procession in the East. Going into the All Star break, Tampa Bay held a thirteen point lead over their nearest challengers, the New York Islanders, and a fourteen point lead over their nearest challengers in the Atlantic Division, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
In their wake, none of the other Eastern teams have been able to put together consistent form to close the gap, including the defending champions. The Capitals were going okay heading into January, but a record of 0-5-2 in seven games going into the All-Star Weekend saw them slip behind the Islanders in the Metropolitan Division, with the Columbus Blue Jackets close behind and nine teams jostling for Wild Card spots, separated by only a few points.
The battle in the West is looking a lot more open. Calgary Flames lead the way, and have opened up a small gap on their pursuers. Along with last season’s pace setters, the Nashville Predators, the Flames, the San Jose Sharks, Winnipeg Jets and Vegas Golden Knights – last season’s Stanley Cup runners-up, all look good for play-off spots, but behind them, there is a ferocious fight developing for the final play-off position the two Wild Card places.
The Minnesota Wild are in a strong position are at the front of the chasing pack, but there are seven other teams in realistic contention. Of those, the Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche both have an advantage, as they hold tiebreaking wins over another contender, the Vancouver Canucks.
Anaheim Ducks are another potential Wild Card team, but they have hit a run of bad form at the wrong time, winning only two out of sixteen games going into the All-Star break, and they also have a tough medium-term schedule, which will see them play a string of road games in the next month. The Arizona Coyotes also have a difficult upcoming schedule, while the Edmonton Oilers are hoping that a change of General Manager will give their play-off hopes a boost, after they fired Peter Chiarelli at the end of January.
With the trade deadline looming at the end of February, there is still time for a number of teams to reshuffle and reshape their rosters, and Columbus in particular have tough trade and contract decisions to make as star players Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky are eye-catching potential free agents in July. But so far in 2018-19, no team has yet suggested they can match Tampa Bay who boast two of the league’s top seven scorers in Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point, along with a top five goaltender, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and will be tough opponents in the Stanley Cup Play-Offs.
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