There were four NHL games with major implications in the Western Conference playoff race last night.

A bubble team emerged with two points in all four games.

The Winnipeg Jets beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 in a shootout for their third win in a row and fifth in six games.

Elsewhere, the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Seattle Kraken 3-0 for their third win in a row.

Meanwhile, in the two head-to-head match-ups featuring two teams in playoff contention, the Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 in a shootout, while the St. Louis Blues beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-3.

NHL favourites went 4-2 straight up, but 1-5 on the puck line, as Vegas was the only favourite that covered the 1.5.

Looking at the Western Conference standings this morning, there are now eight teams separated by 10 points from fourth through 11th heading into the final stretch.

Here’s the TSN EDGE Morning Coffee for Thursday March 31st, 2022.

McDavid, Draisaitl Lead Oilers To Win Over Kings

Connor McDavid hit the 100-point mark with two points in a win over the Kings.

The Oilers’ captain is the 19th player in NHL history to record five 100-point seasons.

It’s his seventh NHL season.

McDavid, who leads the league with 100 points in 67 games, will need 21 points over Edmonton’s final 14 games in order to go over his pre-season point total at 120.5.

While Auston Matthews remains the Hart Trophy favourite at +195, McDavid is once again the second choice to win that award at +260.

He leapfrogged Igor Shesterkin for that second spot on the futures board following last night’s performance.

Meanwhile, teammate Leon Draisaitl scored his 49th goal of the season to move into a tie with Matthews for the league lead.

Draisaitl, who is up to eight goals in his last five games, has averaged 0.87 goals per game over the past 30 days and 0.72 goals per game for the season.

Matthews, who has scored in three in a row for Toronto, has averaged 1.09 goals per game over the past 30 days and 0.80 goals per game for the season.

The Maple Leafs still have 16 games left on the schedule, while the Oilers have 14 games left.

That battle for the Rocket Richard Trophy will be one of the most fun races to watch the rest of the way.

Edmonton improved to 8-2-1 over its past 10 games dating back to March 9th.

 

Next up, the Oilers have another key match-up against St. Louis on Friday night.

The Blues dealt Vancouver’s playoff hopes another blow with a 4-3 win last night.

St. Louis swept the back-to-back set against the Canucks, inching four points closer to a playoff spot, while leaving Vancouver five points back of the final Wild Card.

Vancouver fell to 3-5-3 since March 11th.

Meanwhile, the Jets won their third in a row and improved to 9-3-0 since March 8th with their win in Buffalo last night.

Winnipeg is right back in action tonight in Toronto.

The Jets are two points back of Vegas for the final playoff spot with a game in hand on the Golden Knights heading into their final 14 games.

However, they are also chasing the Dallas Stars, which are one point up on Winnipeg with three games in hand in the race for that final Western Conference Wild Card.

Siakam Leads Raps To Fourth Straight Win

Pascal Siakam registered his second career-triple double as the Toronto Raptors beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 125-102 last night.

Siakam, who finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 13 assists, was +2600 to record a triple-double.

Gary Trent. Jr. scored a game-high 29 points.

Trent was +470 to score 25+ points.

O.G. Anunoby went over 14.5 points in the first half and finished with 22 points in the win.

With four straight wins, Toronto is once again tied with the Chicago Bulls for fifth in the Eastern Conference standings at 44-32.

The Raptors will play four of their final six games against teams currently sitting in 10th place or lower in the conference standings, beginning with the Orlando Magic on Friday night.

 

Toronto was +185 to make the playoffs on opening night.

If they can at least win the games they are favoured in the rest of the way, the Raptors should finish the regular season as a top-six team in the Eastern Conference.

For what it’s worth, NBA favourites went 10-1 straight up on Wednesday night.

Arians To Retire As Bucs Head Coach

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a new head coach.

On Wednesday night, news broke that Bruce Arians is retiring from coaching and will take a position in the Buccaneers’ front office.

Defensive coordinator Todd Bowles will take over as head coach.

Tampa Bay was +2800 to win the Super Bowl before it Tom Brady revealed that he is coming back for one more season.

As of this morning, the Buccaneers are now +700 to win it all.

Only the Buffalo Bills (+650) have shorter odds right now.