And so on

Everything last night went as expected: the superior teams all won. The Islanders kept it interesting for a while, but the 'Canes had a late surge (and a late-second-period really-that-wasn't-goalie-interference-we-swear) to come back and win 5-4, and so everything is as expected:

4. Philadelphia, 86 pts, 12 GR
5. Pittsburgh, 86 pts, 9 GR
6. Carolina, 83 pts, 9 GR
7. NEW YORK RANGERS, 82 pts, 11 GR
8. Montréal, 81 pts, 11 GR
-------------------------
9. Florida, 80 pts, 11 GR
10. Buffalo, 76 pts, 11 GR

Nothing wrong with that. We can only win our games. And we have 2 of 'em this weekend, both against theoretically inferior teams. Tonight at 7:00, we play the Sabres, and tomorrow night at 7:00, we play the Senators. Both at the Garden. These definitely count as "must-win" games. All the other teams in our position have been, as I've noted, beating the teams they should be beating. To drop these at home would be terrible for us. If you look at the standings, we're in 7th, but with our two games-in-hand, we're tied for 5th, 3 points ahead of 7th. These count as those two games-in-hand. Beating Buffalo would give us the added bonus of sticking them, considering the Canadiens' game-in-hand, 7 points out of the playoffs with 10 games left. As a team that really isn't all that comfortably far from 8th ourselves, this would help us breathe a little easier.

In our most recent stretch, we proved that we can come up and win big in the big games. Now, we need to prove that we've gotten over our other usual folly: sitting back when we think we can. The Sabres, given the situation I just described, are desperate for two points and will be playing like it. Ottawa has been having a very good stretch of playing spoiler lately, 7-1-0 in their last 8, including wins over the Pens and Canadiens and 2 over the Sabres. If we do the Old New York Ranger thing of sitting back and thinking these games will be easy, we will lose them both. It's up to Torts to make sure that doesn't happen.

There's a lot of other around-the-conference action this weekend, too. Each of the 7 teams in 4th-10th is in action once (we are the only ones in action more than that, playing twice). Unlike last night's games, these have a lot of real opportunity for the right teams to lose. This is for all you scoreboard-watchers out there (that's how you're supposed to address your audience on blogs, even blogs that aren't actually read, right? "All you...out there"?):

Maple Leafs at Montréal, 7:00 tonight - The Canadiens have been slipping lately, and this could be an excellent opportunity for Toronto to put some space between us and their "no-really-OUR-city-is-the-capital-of-hockey" rivals.

Capitals at Carolina, 7:00 tonight - Come on, Ovechkin. I just wrote a whole fake letter about how you're so great. Do it for me. With games-in-hand, Carolina's actually in 9th, not 6th, and this is another great opportunity to find space between us and them.

Blue Jackets at Florida, 7:00 tonight - Yes yes yes. Put all these together, and Montréal, Carolina, Florida, and Buffalo all have meaningful chances to lose tonight. I know we're supposed to be looking up, but it would be really nice to look down and not see immediate fear of a playoff spot disappearing. The Jackets are starting to get comfortable with the idea of their first-ever playoff run, but could use another handful of wins to get really cozy. How can you not root for Rick Nash, Steve Mason, and those boys?

Flyers at Pittsburgh, 12:30 tomorrow - Oh god fuck this game. The two teams hovering barely above us battle it out. Root against overtime. I can't mathematically pick a team I'd rather have win, though my instincts tell me we should root for Philly, because with games-in-hand, they're slightly ahead, but I can pick a team I despise more and would therefore rather have lose. Fuck the Pens.

And of course, our two games. Big weekend for the Eastern Conference bubble. Let's Go Rangers!