NHL Bubble Watch: Projecting playoff hopes for all 32 teams - ESPN

The NHL playoff bubble is pretty much the size of that one Glinda flies around in during «Wicked.»

Heading into Tuesday night, no team in the East was more than four points out of the wild-card spot. In the West, all but three teams were within three points of a playoff spot. If the NHL is striving for parity, this has been an ideal start.

The NHL Bubble Watch is our monthly check-in on the Stanley Cup playoff races using playoff probabilities and points projections from Stathletes for all 32 teams. We also reveal which teams shouldn't worry about any of this because they're lottery-bound already.

This month, we're also looking at points of concern early this season for teams inside and outside the bubble.

But first, a look at the current playoff bracket:

M1 Carolina Hurricanes vs. WC2 Tampa Bay Lightning
M2 New Jersey Devils vs. M3 Pittsburgh Penguins

A1 Detroit Red Wings vs. WC1 New York Islanders
A2 Boston Bruins vs. A3 Montreal Canadiens

C1 Colorado Avalanche vs. WC2 Seattle Kraken
C2 Dallas Stars vs. C3 Winnipeg Jets

P1 Anaheim Ducks vs. WC1 Chicago Blackhawks
P2 Vegas Golden Knights vs. P3 Los Angeles Kings

Record: 10-7-2, 22 points
Playoff chances: 95.1%

The Stathletes model still loves the Lightning despite an inconsistent start. A lot of that can be chalked up to a torrent of injuries to players such as forwards Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul, and defensemen Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh. Less understandable has been star center Brayden Point's inability to hit the score sheet with his typical consistency during his first 18 games of the season.

All of these factors have contributed to the Lightning's power play sputtering to 29th in the NHL this season, which is a huge reason their offense ranked 17th after 18