[Ed. Note: Fates conspired against me last evening and this morning, so I figured I'd throw Rage's daily recap of the games that matter (slightly edited) out there for discussion as the playoff picture starts to come into focus.]

Last night's games (involving Eastern Conference teams):

1. Sabres 3 - Leafs 1: The Sabres stay alive, but their tragic number is 1 (Rangers).

Tonight's games (involving Eastern Conference teams):

1. Capitals @ Lightning: 1 point for the Caps clinches the second seed.
   
2. Devils @ Senators: A win for the Sens clinches the 2nd seed for the Caps.  A single point for the Devils clinches the division.
   
3. Canadiens @ Bruins: A single point for the Canadiens clinches the playoffs.
   
4. Islanders @ Penguins: Any combo of 2 points earned by the Pens/lost by the Canadiens (e.g. 2/0, 1/1, 0/0) guarantees that the Caps second seed play either the Candiens, Rangers or Panthers.
   
5. Flyers @ Rangers: A win by the Rangers clinches at least the 8 seed.
   
6. Sabres @ Hurricanes: 3 team race (Phil/Car/Pitt) for the 4/5/6 seeds.
   
7. Panthers @ Thrashers: Looking dicey for the Panthers.  Check out bullets 4 and 5 above.

You can find an updated Playoff Tracker here. Note that in the tracker, I don't account for tiebreakers but I've added a little table to help compare total wins and head to head points earned.

Best case Scenario for Tonight:

A point earned by the Caps/lost by the Devils.  And a guarantee of either Montreal, NYR or Florida in the first round.