Eastern Conference: Who will make the cut?

With playoff season slowly approaching, teams are competing hard to either push for a playoff spot or get home ice advantage. When looking at the standings, there some teams we know for sure that will make a trip to the postseason, but how about those teams who are sitting on the borderline?

In the Eastern conference, there are 7 points separating 6th place from 11th place. Currently, the Bruins, Rangers, Flyers, Sabres, Islanders and Capitals occupy those spots respectively. I guess you could throw the Hurricanes in that mix since they are leading the weak Southeast Division and are only 3 points ahead of the Caps. So only 4 of these seven teams will make the playoffs, but determining which four is a bit of a mystery.

Making the playoffs at this point in the season has a lot to do with momentum, which some of these teams possess. One in particular are the Buffalo Sabres. They have been playing great hockey as of late and have won some key matchups, most recently against the 8th place Flyers. There has been a rebirth of offense from the Sabres, led by Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy and Jason Pominville. Although their goaltending and defence haven't been spectacular, for them points are key, so a win is a win. So they are definitely a team I see taking a jump in the standings over some of the teams.

One of those teams I see the Sabres leaping over are the Philadelphia Flyers, who have been absolutely horrendous for the second half of the season and have just recently come out of a 10-game losing streak. I do have to give them some credit since they have been battling injuries to a lot of their key players (i.e. Lupul, Richards, Gagne). But they have also been struggling with getting consistent goaltending and stable defense. I just don't see this team keeping their playoff hopes alive, especially with the other teams they are competing with.

The Boston Bruins and New York Rangers are two teams that will definitely make the postseason and of which one of these two teams could surprise a few teams. Boston has already surprised fans across the league with their new defensive style and steady play of goaltender Tim Thomas. While the Rangers may have finally found their offensive touch that was sorely lacking for the first half of the season. Scott Gomez and Chris Drury have made up for the lacklustre performance of captain Jaromir Jagr.

The only downside to both teams is consistency. The Bruins have sorely lacked in the scoring department for most parts of the season, they seriously can't rely on just Marc Savard and Zdeno Chara for all the offence, or can they? The Rangers, on the other hand, need to tighten up on defense and goaltending. The Rangers do not possess any elite talent on defense, which has resulted in unreliable play throughout the season. This has sorely affected the way Henrik Lundqvist has performed, who could also improve in his department. Nevertheless, both of these teams possess tremendous potential to advance in the playoffs and knock off some of the favorites. For me, I like the Bruins---defense and goaltending wins you games, regardless if you can only score one or two goals.

The New York Islanders are just way too inconsistent to make the postseason. They are a streaky team, who can win five straight but then go on a six game losing streak. You can blame most of this on their inability to score night in night out. Throw in the fact most of the defense they had at the beginning of the season are sitting up in the press box due to injury, can't convince anyone they have a chance to play in the postseason, let alone win a round.

The Washington Capitals really don't need to worry too much about the teams mentioned above as much as they should just focus on the performance of the Hurricanes. The Caps currently sit three points back of the 'Canes and have a great chance to take their division and claim the third seed in the playoffs. The team made some great depth transactions during the trade deadline (getting Matt Cooke was a very underrated move) and having the NHL leading scorer on your team can't hurt either. Washington faces the Canes two more times in the next month, where their playoff futures will most likely be determined. As long as the team can play consistent hockey and win those two matches against the Canes, I can see them making the postseason for the first time since the 2002-03 season.