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Tonight’s games: Rangers on life support

All five games have at least some playoff implications (at least for seeding), but Detroit-Columbus and Colorado-Edmonton lack some of the sizzle of the other three matches. Those two games are more about trying to leapfrog other teams or keeping their place in line. The other three are a little more interesting, with New York - Toronto being particularly huge. (Look at this way, though, Bruins fans: if Toronto loses, at least your chances of getting Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin improves.) Toronto Maple Leafs (29-37-14, 72 pts) at New York Rangers (36-33-10, 82 pts) 7 PM ET

John Tortorella and the Rangers should look at the situation simply: win out and you’re in the playoffs. That’s not exactly an easy task when you consider the fact that they play the equally motivated Flyers in those last two games. Losing this game would be a real slap in the face, though. Especially considering how badly the game against Buffalo went.

Nashville Predators (46-28-6, 98 pts) at Phoenix Coyotes (48-25-6, 102 pts) 10 PM ET

Things have cooled down a bit for the Coyotes, but it would be quite the late season tumble if they managed to cough up the fourth seed (and home ice) against their possible first round opponents from Nashville. If this ends up being the 4-5 match, it will have to go down as one of the scrappiest playoff series in recent history. There would flat-out be a lot of scraps, folks.

St. Louis Blues (39-31-9, 87 pts) at Chicago Blackhawks (50-22-7, 107 pts) 8:30 PM ET

Chicago actually has a decent chance of stealing the top seed in the West because they have more wins than San Jose and a game in hand. Much of the dreary atmosphere in the Windy City has cleared up since the team is now on an impressive 4 game winning streak. Still, that doesn’t make things any rosier for sad panda netminder Cristobal Huet.