It is that time again -- report card time.Eye On Hockey is breaking the 2014-15 season down into quarters and grading each one of them independently, much like the ones you received as a kid during your school days.With only two days remaining in the regular season and the regular season just about wrapped up, today we take a look back at the fourth quarter of the season, and hand out a final grade, for every team with Adam Gretz taking a look at the Eastern Conference and Chris Peters grading the Western Conference.We cannot stre s this enough: Quarterly drades are handed out based on that particular quarter of the season. The fourth quarter grades are only for how teams played between Mar. 1 and the end of the regular season, the fourth quarter of the season. Grades for their play before that point were already i sued (and are in the previous columns) and have no impact on grades for the fourth quarter.So let's get at it.Atlantic DivisionTeam1st Quarter2nd Quarter3rd Quarter4th QuarterFinal GradeMontreal CanadiensAC ABBAAAA AB-DB-CCBAADBBC-CABC-CFFDCBC+BC+FC FFFThe story in the Atlantic Division over the fourth quarter of the season has clearly been the emergence of the Ottawa Senators. Whether they make the playoffs or not, they've been a different team under coach Dave Cameron, who has given a lot of their younger players a shot to emerge as NHL regulars. So far, he and the team has been rewarded and at least given the franchise hope for the future. The most bizarre story in the Atlantic has been the continued failure of the Buffalo Sabres on the ice, which has been expected all year. But what truly separates them from other bad teams is how much their fans are enjoying it, knowing exactly what it means for the long-term benefit of the franchise.At the top half of the division, Montreal has one of the best records in the league, but are they a team that really strikes fear into anybody going into the Stanley Cup Playoffs? Carey Price certainly does, but do the Canadiens as a team strike you as a team that has to be avoided to make a deep playoff run? Especially with 's status in doubt as the playoffs get near. Their record over the past quarter hasn't been great with just eight wins in 19 games, but they also lost three games in shootouts over that stretch. So it's not like Johnny Boychuk Kids Jersey they were getting badly outplayed. They just don't seem as intimidating as some of the other contenders in the East, especially if Price isn't on top of his game.Tampa Bay has been consistently great all season, while Florida put together a strong finish and has the makings of a pretty solid roster going into next season, especially if it can bring back for another year. Prize Pupil:Andrew hammond, Ottawa SenatorsThere were basically two options for this one and it came down to a pair of Ottawa Senators: or . Both players have seemingly come out of nowhere this season, and both have played a significant role in Ottawa's improbable second half turnaround. In the end, I went with Hammond, the goalie, for two reasons. First, his story is the more improbable of the two if for no other reason than he was absolutely dreadful in the American Hockey League this season (one of the worst goalies at that level) before he was called up to the NHL. Then there is hte fact that his play has produced one of the most bizarre stories of the NHL season as Senators fans have littered the ice with hamburgers and a major corporation -- McDonalds -- has already given him free food for life because his mask has the Hamburglar painted on it. In a season full of unexpected storylines, Thomas Hickey Jersey this one is right at the top of the list.Most Disappointing: Detroit Red WingsThe Red Wings are in the playoffs again, but they didn't exactly play their best hockey down the stretch, winning just seven out of 20 games between Mar. 1 and April 9. Goaltending was one of the biggest culprits during that stretch as they gave up five or more goals in six of those games. This was supposed to be kind of a transition and rebuilding year for the Red Wings anyway, and they certainly have some new players working their way into larger roles but they are not playing their best hockey going into the postseason. Metropolitan DivisionTeam1st Quarter2nd Quarter3rd Quarter4th QuarterFinal GradeAB+B-DCAAADBB-AAAACAB-ABDDCDDCCCCCDFBDDDB-DACWithout thinking about it, which team has the best record in the Metropolitan Division since March 1? One of the New York teams? Washington? Pittsburgh? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. It's the Columbus Blue Jackets at 14-4-1, a stretch that includes an 11-game point streak (10-0-1) that they carry into the final weekned of the season, which includes games against Buffalo and the New York Islanders. It's entirely po sible that they could finish the season only one win shy of their record from a year ago when they made the playoffs and nearly made it out of the first round. Injuries really crushed this team early on. Elsewhere in the Metropolitan, the New York Rangers ran away with the division crown, the top seed in the Eastern Conference and the Presidents' Trophy with the best record in the league, and they did it with a backup goalie playing a large portion of the season. An extremely dangerous team heading into the postseason, especially with starting goalie Henrik Lundqvist back in the net.While some teams in the division (Pittsburgh, Columbus, Islanders, even the Rangers) have been hurt by injuries this season the Capitals rebounded from their non-playoff season a year ago to finish second in the division. New coach Barry Trotz and an upgraded defense certainly deserve some credit for that, but so does the fact they were one of the healthiest teams in the league this season. Among their top players, Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green, John Carlson, Marcus Johan son, Troy Brouwer, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Joel Ward, Eric Fehr and Karl Alzner all combined to mi s just 19 man games this season due to injury. That is extraordinarily good injury luck.Prize Pupil: , Columbus Blue JacketsThe Blue Jackets have been one of the best teams in the NHL over the past quarter of the season, taking a 14-4-1 record since Mar. 1 into their game on Friday against the Buffalo Sabres. One of the driving forces behind that run has been the play of veteran forward Scott Hartnell who has 13 goals and 19 points over his past 19 games, failing to record a point in only six of those games. Columbus' late season push proved to be way too little, way too late, but when this team was healthy this season you certainly saw the potential that was there for them at the start of the year. They are one of the great "what if" stories in the NHL this season. The "what if," of course, referring to their injury situation and what might have happened had they not been hit as hard as they were early in the year. Most Disappointing: New York Islanders/Pittsburgh PenguinsThey both qualify.Pittsburgh went from being a postseason lock and a contender for the division title early in March to a team on the playoff bubble in early April. Both teams have been playing at a .500 pace for most of the second half, and injuries can definitely be blamed for a large part of that for both of them (especially when it comes to Pittsburgh and its defense recently). Even so, this looked like it was going to be a guaranteed first-round playoff matchup for most of the second half but both team's late struggles pushed them to the playoff bubble. The Islanders finally clinched their spot, the Penguins still need two points (or Ottawa and Boston to lose on Saturday).Central DivisionTeam1st Quarter2nd Quarter3rd Quarter4th QuarterFinal GradeA-AAC-B+ A-BABAB-BB-BBBAC+BB+Minnesota WildBDAB+BDCC-BC-D-BD+A-CThe last quarter of the season only solidified the Central as the NHLs toughest division. Six of the seven teams posted winning records over the last month-plus of the season, with only the Nashville Predators to this point in the year, the divisions best team struggling down the stretch.Nashvilles late-season swoon, a 6-9-3 record, cost them the division and didnt do much to make them feel secure about their postseason Casey Cizikas Men Jersey situation. The fourth quarter will be remembered for the Blues clinching the division with a late push, but the divisions best team over the home stretch of the season was actually the Dallas Stars. It was too little, too late for Dallas to save their season, but after going 13-6-0 to close out the season, they can look forward to next year with more optimism.St. Louis was solid, too, with 10 wins over the last portion of the season. They picked up a pair of huge wins late against old nemesis Chicago. The Blackhawks also fared pretty well in the last quarter despite playing all of it without star forward Patrick Kane. They managed an 11-5-1 record in the fourth quarter.The Wilds impre sive run down the stretch of the season was simply remarkable and they didnt mi s a beat in the last quarter of the season. They had just one real stumble where they lost three straight games, but beyond that, the Wild and Devan Dubnyk continued winning. The Winnipeg Jets also survived some ups and downs to end up clinching their first playoff berth since moving from Atlanta to copyright. They were aided by an 11-6-1 run down the stretch. Colorado also showed vast improvement in the final quarter, but there will still some inconsistency at the end of the year that makes you wonder what comes next for them. Prize Pupil: Devan Dubnyk, Minnesota WildJust as he was in the third quarter, Devan Dubnyk was the story of the Central at the end of the season. He made 38 consecutive starts after coming over in a trade with the . He went 27-8-2 for the Wild with a .938 save percentage and a 1.73 goals-against average.Even when the Wild hit their very brief skid in the final weeks of the season, Dubnyk was still sensational. He had a .942 save percentage over the month of March while racking up 11 wins against just three lo ses.Hes going to receive legitimate Hart and Vezina consideration and no one is going to care that he only spent half the season in Minnesota. He saved their bacon. Most Disappointing:Nashville PredatorsThe Preds were cruising all season, but when they had a chance to really close things out, they stumbled. Nashville went 6-9-3 in the last month-plus of the season, allowing the Blues to swoop in and win the division despite a slightly above-average finish. The Preds did have some injuries to contend with, notably one to , but they didnt put themselves in optimal position for the postseason. They could be facing a tough first-round series with the Blackhawks depending on how the seeding shakes out, and though no team in the West is going to be an easy out, the Blackhawks have the most postseason experience.Pacific DivisionTeam1st Quarter2nd Quarter3rd Quarter4th QuarterFinal GradeA-AB+BA-B+BB-B+BB+C+BB+BBC-B-C+CCB+CCCArizona CoyotesC-DFFD-FFDD+D-The wild finish to the 2014-15 season in the Western Conference had a lot to do with what was going on in the Pacific. The middle of the division was in flux almost to the last day of the season and in the end, the unexpected became reality. The Los Angeles Kings wont Brock Nelson Women Jersey defend their title after going 10-6-3 in the last quarter of the season. It was a respectable mark, but they couldnt hold off the Calgary Flames and the Jets pulled away in the wild card to Samuel Bolduc Kids Jersey give the Central division five teams in the postseason.Meanwhile, the Ducks cruised to their third consecutive Pacific Division title with continued succe s in the win column. The Canucks did well to stay above the fray in second place, comfortably making the playoffs with a 12-6-2 record down the stretch.The Flames continued their remarkable season by going 11-4-3 late in the last quarter to clinch a spot in the playoffs. It was punctuated with a 3-1 win over the Kings that eliminated the defending champs and turned this wild season up to 11. The fact that the postseason wont include the Kings or Sharks is going to take some getting used to. San Joses run of 10-straight postseason appearances is over, but their season appeared to be lost in the last quarter. They didnt help themselves enough in the fourth with a 10-7-1 record.The bottom of the division remained ugly. The Arizona Coyotes still have a shot at last place in the entire NHL after managing just four wins in the second quarter. The Oilers, meanwhile, showed some life, but only a little as they posted another losing quarter.Prize Pupils: , Calgary FlamesWhen the Flames look back on this season, theyll have a lot of great memories. One of the most memorable things to happen, however, was how Jiri Hudler absolutely went off down the home stretch. In 19 games, with one to play before the season ends, Hudler put up 28 points. Among those points, Hudler scored 12 goals to secure the first 30-goal season of his career. The 31-year-old had by far the best year of his career with 76 points in 78 games.With the season, and their playoff dreams on the line, Hudler stepped up in a big way as a top-line veteran. He put the exclamation point on the year with his three-point effort against the Kings in the Flames clinching win. No one saw the Flames coming, but the season Hudler had to help them get there might have been even le s expected.Most Disappointing: Los Angeles KingsThe Kings became the first team since the 2006-07 Carolina Hurricanes to mi s the Stanley Cup Playoffs after winning the year before. The fact that they couldnt find a way to knock off the Flames in the divisional race or the Jets in the wild card is going to leave a sour taste in their mouth. Scoring woes by some of the teams biggest players in the final quarter contributed to this team sinking out of the playoffs. Its going to be a long offseason in Los Angeles, which is something theyre not quite used to. And to think of all the dynasty talk heading into the season. It wasnt at all outlandish then. It just makes what happened all the more shocking.
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