There are about 30 games to play in the regular season and there is a six-team scramble in the Northern Conference for playoff spots. In the Southern Conference, four teams are virtually tied for the last three spots, meaning one will be left without a chair when the music stops.

Southern Conference

Slovakian natives Marian Hossa (left) and Zdeno Chara have let their team down this season.

Paris is at the head of the class and Munich, Athens, Berlin and Zurich can all feel pretty secure about their post-season chances. At the other end of the standings, Madrid, Milan and Prague need to get some serious hockey played if they want more than 82 games this season. That leaves four teams fighting for three playoff openings. The four are in a virtual tie at the moment and it looks like every point is going to matter for them. Geneva has a game or two in hand on the three teams above them. If they win one of those games, they will be on level ground with Bern and Frankfurt, and if they will both, they will be tied with Bratislava. But Geneva has been in a major tailspin lately, winning only 1 of their last 10 games.

The shots on goal statistics say Bratislava has an edge over the other three teams. The Eagles play the best team defense in the entire league, giving up just 26.5 shots per game. And on offense, they get the more shots on goal per game than the other three teams in the group.

But in goals against per game, the four teams are separated by a hair – all between 3.43 and 3.45 goals per game and Bratislava is the worst of the four. In goals scored per game, they are also tightly bunched, between 3.24 and 3.52 per game, with Bratislava at the top of that list.

Rose in the home office brought in some homemade cookies this morning to celebrate spring. We told her they were tasty. Here’s her advice for the four teams in the hunt for the playoffs in the Southern Conference.

6^th place – Bratislava Eagles. Get the two star Slovakian guys – Zdeno Chara and Marian Hossa – some coffee. They need to wake up. Both seem too comfortable playing in their home country. Chara isn’t acting like the team captain. The 36-year-old old defenseman is falling woefully short of his previous seasons’ stats in everything except blocked shots; and he is taking more penalties than ever, possibly because he has lost a step and having more trouble containing opposing forwards.  Coach Bruce Boudreau has demoted him to the second and third D pairings several times this season and even took the C off his sweater for a while.  Paul Martin and Jonathan Toews have been great for Bratislava, but Chara has to play better if the Eagles are going to go anywhere. Hossa is also under-achieving a bit. His point totals and plus-minus ratings are less than Boudreau expected. Bratislava is the only one of the four teams with a winning record on the road, so they might have a better chance of surprising a top seed if they get in.

7^th place – Bern Bears. The Bears play well at home, but their road record might be their downfall. A veteran group, they are currently troubled by injuries. All-star Tobias Enstrom, goalie Mike Smith, and forwards Sami Pahlsson, Andy McDonald and Pascal Dupuis are all out with injuries or significantly hobbled at the moment. That can’t be good. When healthy, Mike Smith gets as many games as he can stand for Bern and his numbers are very similar to the other three teams’ goalies.  When everyone is healthy, Bern can be scary. They feature a top four defense crew that is the envy of most teams in the EURO League. That foursome is Brent Seabrook, Dennis Seidenberg, Timo Kimonen and Enstrom. The top line of Jason Spezza, Henrik Zetterberg and Radim Vrbata score a lot (62 goals combined), but they are in the minus 15 to minus 20 range.  A little more defensive focus from them, and a healthier stretch, and Bern is in.

8^th place – Frankfurt Inferno. The Inferno should cool it a little. They take a few too many penalties and their ability to kill penalties is a little below average. Only six teams get more penalties. The Frankfurt powerplay – with Stamkos and crew – is among the better groups in the league. Frankfurt features a handful of great, young talent, followed by a supporting cast being asked to hold the fort while the big guns fire away. The supporting cast is doing just fine, all with plus-minus ratings between minus 6 and plus 6. They just need a little more out of the top line. Claude Giroux, Steven Stamkos and Max Pacioretty each has 25 goals or more and more than 60 points. But they are the team’s worst in plus-minus, although their minus 6 to minus 10 ratings aren’t pitiful. At little better play out of those three and Frankfurt should make it through to the playoffs. Defensemen Drew Doughty and Dan Boyle have been given major roles and both are performing admirably. Young goalie Karri Ramo has been good, but must improve a little to push Frankfurt over the dark line and into the playoffs.

9^th place – Geneva Generals. Pull up! As mentioned, the Generals are in a major tailspin, winning just one of their last 10 games. Another thing that would help in such a tight race is shootout practice. Patrick Marleau and Marian Gaborik have taken more shootout shots than anyone in the league other than Gothenburg’s Adam Henrique, but in their combined 14 shots, Marleau and Gaborik have only scored 4 times for Geneva. Marleau  and Gaborik are Geneva’s top scorers and each has more than 20 goals this season. Seven other Generals have at least 10 goals, indicating good team balance. Kari Lehtonen has always gotten the lion’s share of starts in goal for Geneva, but his numbers are down slightly this season. His backup, Sergei Bobrovsky has not been much help, losing 11 of his 16 starts.