[Cali Panthers Fan]

Philadelphia Flyers @ New York Islanders. 7 p.m. EDT

As Philadelphia clinched their playoff spot yesterday, and cannot change position in the standings, this will likely be a game that they will rest up their main players and likely phone the game in. That bodes well for the New York Islanders as they can still catch the New York Rangers for 3rd in the Metropolitan Division with a win. It has to be a win, since the Rangers hold the tiebreaker with more ROWs. It's debatable if the Islanders would rather play the Penguins or the Panthers in the 1st round. They lost both season series, but only by one game for both. However, there is a larger sample size against the Penguins, and they are also without M.A. Fleury to start the series, so perhaps they would rather face the Penguins than Luongo and the Panthers.

Anaheim Ducks @ Washington Capitals. 7:30 p.m. EDT

Is this a possible Stanley Cup preview? The Ducks will need to win their last game of the season, on the road, against the best team in the league (by a large margin), in a building where the Capitals have only surrendered 18 points all year. That's a tough task for even the strongest teams in the league. However, the Capitals have been mediocre down the stretch as they rest up for the playoff drive, and I doubt this would be much different for them. If the Ducks win, they claim 1st in the Pacific, and would play the Nashville Predators in the 1st round. Lose, and they play the San Jose Sharks with their terrible home record (18-20-3) in the 1st round. Neither team has been hot down the stretch. However, if I'm the Ducks I might want to be strategic in which team I face. They have an 0-3 record against Nashville, but a 3-1 record against San Jose, and the only loss they suffered was at the beginning of the year when they were atrocious. Ducks might intentionally lose this game in order to face San Jose over Nashville.

Should be interesting to see how this plays out.