Ottawa Senators sit in the NHL's wildest East race, where 99 points might not be enough

The Senators, Red Wings, and Blue Jackets all entered Friday tied at 88 points, and that's where this story turns from tight to historic.

Ottawa held the playoff spot among those three clubs.

Philadelphia sat at 86 points and Washington at 85, so this isn't a two-team chase or even a three-team one.

The East has turned into a full-board sprint with almost no room for a bad night.

What makes it different is the math.

Ottawa and Detroit each have 7 games left, while Columbus has 6, which leaves enough runway for the standings to do something the league has never seen.

For the first time in NHL history, a team could hit 100 points and still miss the playoffs. That's not noise.

That's a pressure cooker with every point swing carrying real weight.

And the schedule won't let everyone escape clean. Detroit and Columbus still play each other Tuesday, which means at least one of them has to give something back.

There's an even wilder version of this.

If that Red Wings-Blue Jackets game goes to overtime and those 3 teams grab every other point available, 2 clubs could finish with at least 99 points and still be watching in April.

That would reset the Bettman-era standard for heartbreak. Right now, the high-water mark for a team missing the playoffs is 96 points.

Boston did it in 2014-15. Florida matched it in 2017-18. Montreal landed there in 2018-19. Calgary joined that list in 2024-25.

Now Ottawa is sitting in the center lane of a race that keeps tightening by the day. Green's group has the inside track today, but nothing about that cushion feels safe.

That's what makes this stretch so good. It's no longer only about getting in. It's about how high the bar is moving while 5 teams keep chasing the same thin patch of ice.

If the Senators hold on, they'll have earned it in one of the nastiest cutoff races the conference has produced. If they don't, the East may end up making history for all the wrong reasons.

Also read on Blade of steel :
Fans stunned as bizarre scene delays Golden Knights-Flames game for 50 minutes