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Eastern playoff bungle continues: Canes, Leafs stay alive while Sabres,Thrashers falter

Mikhail Grabovski; Shaone Morrisonn

Toronto Maple Leafs center Mikhail Grabovski celebrates his goal as Buffalo Sabres defenseman Shaone Morrisonn (27) skates past during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto on Tuesday, March 29, 2011. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)

AP

Eastern Conference playoff race

x-1. Philadelphia - 102 pts
x-2. Washington - 99 pts
x-3. Boston - 96 pts
x-4. Pittsburgh - 98 pts
5. Tampa Bay - 93 pts
6. Montreal - 89 pts
7. NY Rangers - 87 pts
8. Buffalo - 85 pts
9. Carolina - 82 pts
10. Toronto - 80 pts
11. Atlanta - 76 pts

z - clinched conference title
y - clinched division title
x - clinched playoff spot

Philadelphia 5 - Pittsburgh 2

So much for the talk of the Flyers slipping from atop the East. Ville Leino scored twice while Scott Hartnell, Claude Giroux, and Jeff Carter also added goals to give the Flyers an emphatic win, their 25th win on the road. Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves as he kept the Penguins at bay in their attempt to draw even with the Flyers in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference race. A Pens win would’ve put the two teams in a tie atop the conference. Instead, Philly is up on them by four once again and have shaken the confidence of the Pens after they had been on a roll.

Toronto 4 - Buffalo 3

A double-turn tonight in Toronto as the Leafs continue to battle and stay on the edge of the playoff race in the East and they beat just the team they had to in Buffalo tonight. Mikhail Grabovski’s goal late in the second period proved to be the deciding goal as the teams played a tight third period with no scoring. James Reimer continues to build his folk hero legacy in Toronto by stymieing the Sabres again this time with 28 saves. Ryan Miller admitted that he “just looked stupid” on the ice tonight making 31 saves and playing poorly still in the loss. Buffalo will have to rebound fast tomorrow night at home against the Rangers if they want to have a shot at getting out of eighth in the right direction.

Carolina 3 - Washington 2 (F/SO)

Washington had the chance to help put the Lightning officially into the playoffs tonight, but instead were foiled by Carolina trying to stay in the race for the playoffs themselves. Jeff Skinner scored the game-tying goal early in the third and scored the shootout winner as well to get the Hurricanes two points closer to Buffalo. Just three points out now, the Hurricanes continue to hang around in the rear view mirror of the Sabres. Cam Ward made 38 saves in the win and did not allow any Caps to score in the shootout. It wasn’t all bad news for the Caps, however, as Jason Arnott and Alexander Ovechkin returned to action in quiet fashion as neither player had a point in the loss.

Montreal 3 - Atlanta 1

It was nothing but bad news for the Thrashers as they’re all but done in the East playoff race. Montreal snapped their goalless drought at 199:01 and then scored twice in 11 seconds. You just can’t predict hockey. Montreal was able to get a couple of important points to try and put the Rangers and Sabres a bit further back in their rear view mirrors.

Tampa Bay 5 - Ottawa 2

Martin St. Louis and Dominic Moore each had two goals while Steve Stamkos scored an empty net goal, his 44th on the season to tie him again with Corey Perry for the NHL lead. Dwayne Roloson stopped 31 shots in the win to keep Tampa Bay up by four points on Montreal. While the Habs have slumped lately, a loss tonight from Tampa Bay would’ve put them squarely in the crosshairs to be taken out of the fifth seed should Montreal get rolling again.