Hockey Stocks - Winners and Losers

In the spirit of the times (EVERYBODY PANIC!) I thought I'd make a quick entry about some rising and falling play-off teams. As Jim Cramer would say ...

BUY! BUY! BUY!

The Hartford Whalers: These guys are on a serious tear right now. They ripped off 6 in a row and even though certain bloggers said they'd be out of the play-off picture - here they are in the 5 seed, threatenting to take the four! Good heavens, man. They could even take the 3 if things played out for them. They even play the Devils in the last game of the season - so that might end up being a very important contest.

SELL! SELL! SELL!

The New Jersey Devils: Man they looked like poop last night against the Rangers. Brodeur was doing a whole lot of complaining to the refs (all three goals were quite legit, even pretty), and their goon squad look like a bunch of amateurs after they tried to take runs at Sean Avery in the second, and again in the 3rd with only minutes remaining in the contest. The Devils have dropped 5 in a row, and if Philly and Carolina turn on the jets we could see a big shake-up in the 3, 4, and 5 spots.

Extra Fun from last night's game: When Sean Avery lets himself get tossed around like a rag doll because he refuses to fight, you know John Tortorella has him by the balls. He was looking at the bench like a German sheppard waiting for his owner to give him permission to rip the dude's face off.

Game of the Night

Alright, thanks to the wonders of NHL network (both online and via cable) i'm going to make a concerted effort to introduce a new segment for the stretch run of the regular season.

It's called: Game of the Night. Usually, this won't involve the Bruins. The idea being to get a look at Eastern Conference playoff contenders in games that preferably have implications on the standings right away.

Last night's winner: Sabres (10th seed, 78 points) hosting the Panthers (9th seed, 81 points).

The story: Down 3-1 in the third, the desperate Sabres score two even strength goals followed by a PPG in 2:07 (!) to go up 4-3 and add an empty netter for the win. In doing so, they pull to within 5 points of the crumbling Canadiens and their 8th seed while hurting the other team they need to hurdle. This is the type of loss that could kill the young Panthers, though the fact that they were on the road will likely lessen the blow. Game video highlights can be seen on the Game Center at NHL.com, here.

To watch tonight: Florida (on the road again) in Philly (probably a season determining game for the Panthers)

Also in action: TB in MTL (Can TB push the Habs towards the cliff some more?)