Running on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Hockey Talk examines player and team trends as well as take a more in-depth look at the game. This is an interactive project, so feel free to email your opinions to Douglas.Benton@RealGM.com, and your thoughts may just appear in this space. March 28 The San Jose Sharks moved closer to the Pacific Division title by beating the Dallas Stars at home by a score of 3-2. Center Joe Thornton was on Thursday night, as he scored the tying goal in the third period and then the overtime winner on the power play. He finished with a +1 rating, had six shots on goal, and won 65% of his face-offs. The Stars, on the other hand, are now tied for fifth with 90 points. Since acquiring Brad Richards at the trading deadline Dallas is 2-7-1, and they haven?t scored more than three goals in their last nine games. In the Eastern Conference, the New York Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils 3-2 on Tuesday behind three assists from Chris Drury. In their last 15 games, the Rangers are 10-2-3 and are tied for fifth with New Jersey at 91 points. With Ottawa slipping, the Rangers could get home ice in the first round and possibly win a series. Finally, as we head to the last weekend of the regular season, here is a game a day to take you down the stretch. On Friday, stay up late as the San Jose Sharks play at the Anaheim Ducks in what possibly are the best two teams in the West. On Saturday, take in some day hockey as the Ottawa Senators play at the Boston Bruins in a good checkpoint game for the Senators. On Sunday, tune into NBC for the New York Rangers at the Pittsburgh Penguins as a preview for a potential second round match-up. March 26 With the playoffs around the corner, this is the time for contenders to make statements and start separating themselves from the pretenders. The Montreal Canadiens made one such statement on Monday by beating the Ottawa Senators 7-5. They were up 7-1 after two periods while putting 30 shots on net in the first two periods. On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Penguins completed a home and home sweep of the New Jersey Devils, winning 2-0 in New Jersey. Marian Hossa scored his first goal for Pittsburgh, and more importantly, Marc-Andre Fleury had a 31 save shutout. The Eastern Conference, as a whole, is deep and wide open heading into the playoffs. Philadelphia Flyers? forward Mike Richards has scored three goals in his last four games, all of which have been Flyers? wins. The Flyers now sit in seventh place at 88 points and have won four in a row after losing four in a row previously. I, for one, wrote off Philadelphia after Richards went down with an injury, but they stayed competitive in his absence and look to have secured a playoff berth. Does anyone want to win the Northwest Division? Minnesota has four overtime/shootout losses in their last 10 games. Calgary followed up an impressive win against Minnesota by being shutout at Colorado. Before the shutout win, the Avalanche had lost four in a row, including three to division foes. Over the last month, Vancouver?s results: four straight losses, three straight wins, two straight losses, three straight wins, and now currently two straight losses. The Oilers have won 12 out of 15, but can?t overcome ? of a season of subpar hockey. Like I said on Monday about Calgary and what I have said about other teams in the division, the talent is there. However, inconsistencies across the board could make these teams one and done in a few weeks. March 24 After a week off, we are back with Hockey Talk with just over a week left in the regular season. I see it tough for any team to enter the top eight in either conference, but the Washington Capitals have the best chance in the East. On Friday, Capitals? superstar Alexander Ovechkin scored two goals and two assists in Washington?s 5-3 win over the Atlanta Thrashers. The two goals gave Ovechkin 60 goals on the year, which is 10 more than the second place scorer Atlanta?s Ilya Kovalchuk. In the Western Conference, don?t sleep on the Calgary Flames. They beat the Minnesota Wild at home 5-4 on Saturday behind stellar performances from forward Jarome Iginla (3 G, +2 rating) and defenseman Dion Phaneuf (1 G, 2 A, and +4 rating). The Pittsburgh Penguins made a major statement on Saturday as they embarrassed the New Jersey Devils 7-1 in Pittsburgh. The Penguins were without star Sidney Crosby but had two goals and an assist from Evgeni Malkin and chased top end goaltender Martin Brodeur early in the third period after he had given up his fourth goal. March 12 The Calgary Flames beat the St. Louis Blues 7-3 on Monday night in Calgary, but that wasn?t the story. On a power play goal late in the first period, Jarome Iginla became the all-time leading goal scorer in Calgary Flames? history with No. 365. It is a shame that Iginla?s talent has been forgotten in Calgary except during the Cup run in 2004. The Ottawa Senators (85 points) picked up a nice win on Tuesday by beating the Boston Bruins (80 points) 4-1 in Ottawa. In that game, Dany Heatley had a hat trick and an assist. Prior to this game, Heatley had just four goals in the previous 14 games. The Senators need Heatley and his cohorts to put up big numbers every night if they want to have a chance at repeating as conference champions. There is a new leader in the Eastern Conference, and it is the Montreal Canadiens. Behind a stellar performance by Carey Price (38 saves), Montreal (87 points) beat the New Jersey Devils (86 points) 4-0 on Tuesday. Since taking over full time for Montreal, Price is 5-2 with a 2.14 GAA. In those games, he has allowed a goal or fewer in three of them.