No Clinches or Eliminations on Sunday

Of all the scenarios that could have happened on Sunday, nothing really came together to work out for the playoff pool, as the Sabres beat the Hurricanes in overtime, giving both teams points in the standings, the Blackhawks lost to the Lightning, the Flames beat the Avalanche and the Stars beat the Ducks, keeping West teams alive for another day. Overall, it was a day to make the last week of the regular season a little more exciting.

There are only two games on the schedule for the final Monday night of the regular season, with some playoff implications of note.

The Bruins will be at Madison Square Garden tonight, trying to put a dent in the Rangers' playoff hopes tonight. The Rangers are sitting in the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and are sitting in a position where they have to win to keep control of their own destiny. A loss to the Bruins will open the door wide for the Hurricanes to blow right in and usurp their spot.  If there is a regulation loss for the Rangers and a regulation win for the Hurricanes in their next game, Carolina takes the 8th spot on the adjusted shootout wins tie-breaker.

The later game tonight sees the Kings travel within the state to San Jose to try and clinch their playoff berth with an overtime finish with the Sharks.  The Kings only need one point to clinch their birth in the playoffs this year, something that could have been done with a Ducks win over the Stars last night, but no help was given to them.  This should be a tight game tonight, but their playoff spot should be considered to be only a formality anyway.