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Race for the playoffs: Bruins can clinch division, Rangers looking to bounce back

Tim Thomas, Greg Campbell

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
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. Buffalo - 87 pts
8. NY Rangers - 87 pts
9. Carolina - 84 pts
10. Toronto - 80 pts
11. Atlanta - 76 pts

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

Toronto @ Boston - 7 p.m. ET

It’s virtually a must-win game for the Leafs and for the Bruins, they can lock up the Northeast Division with a win. The last two outings for the B’s against Toronto have not gone well and Boston would love to see Tomas Kaberle snap out of it against his old team. Since joining the Bruins Kaberle has one goal and six assists in 18 games. The Bruins power play isn’t clicking the way they’d like but yet through all this they stay on top of things. Getting things figured out before the playoffs would ease coach Claude Julien’s mind a bit. For the Leafs, Buffalo’s win last night hurt their chances badly and now they’ve got to try and win out to get a shot at the postseason. Beating Boston one more time would suit them just fine.

NY Rangers @ NY Islanders - 7 p.m. ET

These two rivals go into tonight’s game with only pride on the line for the Isles and playoffs on the minds of the Rangers. After losing to the Sabres last night, the Rangers technically fell into eighth place in the Eastern Conference as the Sabres tied them with 87 points. Getting one over on the Isles tonight would do the Rangers a lot of good as Carolina is lurking in ninth just three points out. The Isles would like nothing more than to make life more uncomfortable on the Rangers.

Atlanta @ Philadelphia - 7 p.m. ET

A loss tonight by the Thrashers eliminates them from postseason contention. They’re barely hanging on as it is and they’ll need to win their final six games just to keep hope alive. Fortunately for them, they’ve beaten Philly the last two times they’ve played this year in the shootout and in overtime. They’ll need that kind of fortune the rest of the way. Philly, meanwhile, needs to win to keep Pittsburgh off their back and close in on trying to clinch the division.

Pittsburgh @ Tampa Bay - 7:30 p.m. ET

This is shaping up to be a very likely first round match-up in the playoffs. While Pittsburgh seems destined to have home ice in the first round, the Lightning could cut into that advantage with a win. Winning in regulation would get Tampa to within three points of Pittsburgh. The Pens would like to catch Philly for the lead in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference. With Sidney Crosby skating with the team, perhaps the captain can rally the guys on game day into taking the number one seed.

Columbus @ Washington - 7 p.m. ET

The Jackets are just playing out the string while the Capitals get to try to keep their offense alive without Dennis Wideman who’s out week-to-week with a lower body injury. The Caps can get to within a point of Philly for the top spot in the East with a win and coming off a shootout loss to Carolina the other night, they could stand to see the offense pick up a bit. Doing so against Columbus is a questionable process as you never know if you’ll get the easy to score on Blue Jackets or not. At the very least, scoring two goals is a virtual automatic thing for the Caps in this one. Columbus has given up two or more goals in 14 straight games. That’s... Not good.