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Race for the playoffs: East playoff hopefuls all in action today

Toronto Maple Leafs v Boston Bruins

on March 31, 2011 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Boston Bruins 4-3 in an overtime shootout. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Elsa

With the season winding down and the playoff picture sorting itself out, we’ll be taking a look at the night’s games and how they’ll potentially affect the playoff races. This is ProHockeyTalk’s “Race for the Playoffs.”

Eastern Conference

x-1. Philadelphia - 102 pts (4 GR)
x-2. Washington - 101 pts (4 GR)
x-3. Boston - 97 pts (5 GR)
x-4. Pittsburgh - 98 pts (4 GR)
x-5. Tampa Bay - 95 pts (5 GR)
6. Montreal - 89 pts (4 GR)
7. Buffalo - 87 pts (5 GR)
8. NY Rangers - 87 pts (4 GR)
9. Carolina - 84 pts (5 GR)
10. Toronto - 82 pts (4 GR)
11. Atlanta - 78 pts (5 GR)

x - clinched playoff spot
GR - games remaining

Tampa Bay @ Minnesota - 2 p.m. ET

So we know the Wild are toast, but Tampa Bay still has a shot at getting home ice in the first round of the playoffs and a very outside shot still of the Southeast Division. They’d need some help from the Caps and to virtually win out to do that, but hey there you go. Tampa is getting streaky at the wrong time of year. They’ve won three in a row after they’d just lost four straight. Facing a Wild team today that’s pretty much thrown it in the tank should help out their prospects of catching Pittsburgh and Washington.

Toronto @ Ottawa - 7 p.m. ET

The Leafs are still hanging on for dear life in the playoff picture and getting through provincial nemesis Ottawa reasons to be a tricky test. Craig Anderson and his great play since being moved to Ottawa stand between the Leafs and keeping hope alive. Ottawa will also have recent signee and college star Stephane Da Costa in the lineup. For a game that would seemingly not have a lot to bring to the table, there’s plenty of interest and intrigue in this one. A loss by the Leafs would all but eliminate them from playoff consideration and don’t think the Sens won’t use that as motivation tonight.

Montreal @ New Jersey - 7 p.m. ET

In Montreal’s race to hang on to the sixth seed, they’ll get to face a New Jersey team hellbent on playing the spoiler. They’ll also get a Devils team getting Zach Parise back to action tonight. With the Habs just two points ahead of both Buffalo and the Rangers, getting a win is huge in helping them hold tight to sixth. While they’re in seemingly little danger of missing the playoffs, if you keep losing you’re toying with the tiger and the last thing the Habs want to get are the teeth. New Jersey was able to spoil the Flyers fun last night and with them missing the playoffs, there’s nothing they’d love more than to make everyone else in the East miserable.

Carolina @ NY Islanders - 7 p.m. ET

They’re just sitting in ninth lurking waiting for someone to slip up. It doesn’t matter if it’s Montreal, Buffalo, or the Rangers but if any of those teams continue to slip up, Carolina would be more than happy to take their spot in the postseason. Of course, getting through an Islanders team that just got done kicking around the Rangers the other night to hurt their playoff chances won’t be easy.

Buffalo @ Washington - 7 p.m. ET

For as big of a game as this is for Buffalo, it’s just as big as it is for the Caps. Washington can take the lead in the Eastern Conference with a win while Buffalo could jump into a points tie with Montreal by the end of the night. Buffalo can’t overtake Montreal for sixth thanks to the shootout tiebreaker, but getting even up in points would be warning enough for the Habs. Washington’s been inconsistent of late trading wins and losses on and off for the last couple weeks. Buffalo has four of their last five games but they’ll be without Ryan Miller and youngster Jhonas Enroth will start. Enroth shutout the Rangers in his last start on Wednesday night.

Pittsburgh @ Florida - 7 p.m. ET

Florida’s toast and they’re without Stephen Weiss tonight. So they’re like blackened toast now. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, would like to catch up to the Flyers in the Atlantic Division race. They’re four points back of them right now and they can amp up the pressure in a big way getting two points against the Panthers. After winning four straight shootout games the Pens have lost their last two games. Facing a downtrodden Panthers squad sounds like just the remedy a team in need of a win needs.