NHL Conference Race Tightens With the Finish Line in Sight

The conference picture is getting crowded, and the margins are starting to look microscopic. Teams are running out of runway, which means every point now carries the kind of weight that front offices and coaches feel in their sleep. This is the part of the season when a hot week can flip a bracket and a bad one can send a contender into the summer early. The standings are doing exactly what they always do in late May - turning good teams into nervous ones.