As the NHL season is rapidly drawing to a close, I thought an examination of the six teams battling for the 6-7-8 playoff spots in the Eastern Conference would be appropriate. I'll go through each team, looking over how they have done this year and then make my absolutley stone cold 100% guaranteed lock picks for whom will get invited to the ball along with Cinderella's step sisters and who will have to sit at home like Cinderella herself wishing for a fairy hockey godmother that simply will not come this season. New York Rangers | 81 Points - 6th in the Eastern Conference The Rangers had an important game facing off against the team that was just ahead of them in the standings: the Boston Bruins. It was a game true hockey fans love, a goaltender's duel with no goals scored through regulation and overtime. Nigel Dawes is riding a hot streak with seven points in his past six games heading into Sunday's tilt. The rookie scored probably the most important goal of his career, sliding the puck past Tim Thomas in the shootout to give the Rangers a 1-0 victory, pushing them past the Bruins in the standings. Dawes adds to an already impressive offensive arsenal for the Blueshirts led by the veteran quarter of Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Brendan Shanahan, and captain Jaromir Jagr. Surprisingly, Gomez is having the best year so far of the group, with 66 points. That is not to take anything away from Scott, but most hockey fans would probably not say he's the best player of that group if asked. Coming over in the off-season from Western New York, Chris Drury is also playing well with 48 points. Drury has scored many big goals in the playoffs in his career and will need to continue playing big in important games down the stretch for his current squad. Although he's not playing quite as well as he did in the '05-'06 season when he had 123 points, Jagr stillhas been consistent for the Rangers, with 17 goals and 41 assists in 68 games. For all their goal scoring power, arguably the biggest reason the Rangers are where they are in the current standings has been the play of goalie Henrik Lundquist. Henrik has been amongst the NHL's top goalies all season as his numbers clearly indicate. His 2.35 GAA and .908 are great, and he's one of only two goalies with nine shutouts. Interestingly enough, his backup Stephen Valiquette actually has better numbers, with a 2.13 GAA and a .917 save percentage. It's quite a luxury the Rangers have with two goalies playing at such high levels. The team has been playing really well recently, winning eight of their 12 games in February. With their high profile skaters and top-level goalies, the Rangers should have be able to keep up the pace and have no problems snagging a playoff spot. Boston Bruins | 80 Points - 7th in the Eastern Conference Athough you might not know it watching Sunday's scoreless effort against the Rangers, the Bruins are led on the offensive end by a pair of Marcs (OK, Marco Strum doesn't really qualify as a Marc, but how often do two people who work together have Marc in their names?) with Zdeno Chara and Tim Thomas taking care of the other half of the ice, the only team in Beantown without championship aspirations hasn't been playing that way lately. They recently went on a six game winning streak from the end of February through early March and will need to continue piling up W's to lock up their playoff invitation in the tough Eastern Conference. The man who scored the game winner at this year's All Star game Marc Savard has been one of the NHL's top offensive performers all season, with 76 points in 67 games. He is filling the centerman's role of taking care of his teammates to a T as he currently ranks second in the league in assists. The recipient of many of those crisp passes has been Marco Strum, their second leading point getter. even though he isn't among the league leaders, his point total of 49 is already the highest of his career. The Dingolfing, Germany native isn't making any Bruins' fans forget about the man he was traded for, potential league MVP Joe Thornton, but at least he's making the pain sting a little less. Aside from Savard and Strum, the Bruins haven't been doing much on offense as they rank 20th in the NHL in goals scored per game. The reason they've still had success has been the strong play of Zdeno Chara and Tim Thomas, preventing opponents from out-scoring them. Captain Chara is having a season that's come to be expected from one of the NHL's top blueliners, with 48 points and a +/- of 11. Thomas has come out of nowhere this year to emerge as one of the conference's best goalies. He made his first All-Star team this winter at the youthful age of 33. His save percentage of .920 is 7th best in the NHL, and his 2.57 GAA and two shutouts are nothing to scoff at either. Odds are he'll be playing the majority of the games going forward as the Bruins fight for their playoff lives, and if he has the stamina to continue his strong play, there's no reason the Bruins shouldn't join every other major sports team in Boston in making the playoffs. Don't you just hate that city? Philadelphia Flyers | 78 Points - 8th in the Eastern Conference Fueled by the second best power play in the league, scoring 22.7% of the time when they have the man advantage, the Flyers will need to do even more to retain their perilous hold on the eighth playoff spot. The quarterback of that devastating power play unit is the Kimmo Timonen. Timonen currently ranks 13th among all NHL defensemen in assists with thiry-two. The thirty-two year old has been doing this ever since he came to the NHL from Finland, especially the past two years when he's finished with more than fifty points each season. Complementing Kimmo are a trio of offensive stalwarts in Mike Richards, Vaclav Prospal, and Danny Briere. Richards is leading the way with 66 points, but Prospal and Briere have been playing well too, with 59 points each. Stonewalling the opposition is goaltender Martin Biron. Through 51 games, he has a 2.63 GAA, .918 save percentage, and three shutouts. For a franchise that has seemingly always struggled to find reliability in net, Biron looks to be the answer. To make the playoffs the Flyers just need to keep on taking care of business like they have been, winning five of their last seven games. Buffalo Sabres | 74 Points - 9th in the Eastern Conference After making a difficult deadline day deal, trading popular defenseman Brian Campbell to the Sharks, it could be interpreted that Sabres' management is waving the white flag and giving up on this season. Nothing could be further from the truth. Although fans may not understand why they pinch pennies as they do, they are one of the best groups in the business. Across professional sports one of the most important aspects of any GM's job is to not overpay for assets. The Sabres realized that would inevitably happen this off-season and moved Campbell for a first round pick rather than lose him for nothing. It is the same type of smart move GM Darcy Reiger has been making for years. Indeed, his past draft picks are the biggest reason Buffalo could wind up getting invited to the postseason dance. Unlike their cross-state rivals the Rangers and Islanders, the Sabres don't import all their talent; it's the organic home-grown top quality stuff. Their top two point getters this season Jason Pominville and Derek Roy were both drafted the same year in the same round. Each is following up career-best campaigns in 2006-07 when they each had better than 60 points with over 60 points already. And, they still have thirteen games left to be played. The team's leading goal scorer Thomas Vanek, who has found the back of the 27 times, was also a Reiger pick. Continuing the theme, their goalie Ryan Miller was a 5th round pick back in 1999 and is now one of the NHL's better goalies. He had a .911 save percentage, a 2.54 GAA, and 3 shutouts. His 30 wins are fifth best in the NHL. The Sabres face an uphill climb to make the playoffs especially given how well the teams ahead of them are playing. But, with a little luck, this young squad could well find themselves in the top eight by season's end even without Brian Campbell there to help them. Washington Captials |72 Points - Tied for 10th in the Eastern Conference After all the countless dollars spent on long distance calls, cups of coffee grabbed by frightened interns for frantic GM's on no sleep for three days, and millions of murdered trees to fill out all the necessary paper work for the league offices on February 26th, the Washington Capitals seem to have emerged as the team that helped itself the most in the short term. Acquiring forward Alex Giroux from the Thrashers, and much more importantly, goaltender Cristobal Huet from the 'Habs, and center Sergei Federov from the Blue Jackets, the Caps were a much different team when they went to bed than they were upon waking that fateful Tuesday. Huet is a veteran who had been the defensive backbone of a team that was challenging for the conference lead. Given his age, he surprisingly doesn't have a ton of big game experience, but, nonetheless, improves the Washington goaltending situation and gives the team a much better chance to delay the start of their off-season golf lessons by a few weeks. Federov is, to put it simply, one of the best two way centers of his generation. There are not many things on the ice Sergei cannot do; he even filled in as a defenseman for the Red Wings for a period to help his team weather a storm of injuries. He may not be quite as young as he once was, but his mind is sharper than ever and has been polished by the most effective of all drugs: experience. Obviously, the key is for fellow Russian Alexander Ovechkin to continue putting doubt into people's minds as to whom is the NHL's best offensive player, he or Crosby? If he can keep putting pucks into the net at a frightening rate, and the newcomers gel with the rest of the squad, the Capitals have a small to decent shot of making the postseason. Florida Panthers | 72 Points - Tied for 10th in the Eastern Conference The Panthers were another buyer at the deadline, acquiring forwards Chad Kilger and Wade Belak in two separate deals from Toronto and defenseman Karlis Skrastins from the Avalanche. The only snag has been that Kilger has, for one reason or another, decided he has better things to do than play hockey in South Florida and has not reported to the Panthers following a permitted leave of absence. Kilger's unprofessional behavior aside, the Panthers have been playing like a team that wants to keep going, having won their last four in a row. Backup Craig Anderson started three of the four wins, including back to back shutouts. With a starter like Vokun, who has a 2.79 GAA and a .915 save percentage, getting that caliber of play from a backup is like having your cake and eating it, too. Offensively, the Panthers are led, as ever, by star Captain Olli Jokinen, who has 30 goals and 36 assists. Nathan Horton is having quite a year himself, with 55 points to support Olli. Defensive ace Jay Bouwmeester continues to be one of the best in the business, and aside from his defensive prowess, is seventh among defenseman with twelve goals. If the Panthers keep up their current win streak all the way to the end of the regular season, a la the 2007 Colorado Rockies, they will definitely make the playoffs. If that doesn't happen, Coach/GM Jacques Martin will have to pull out something from deep in his magical bag of tricks to grab that 8th spot. It will have to be something slightly better than the Chad Kilger deal. So, who will make the playoffs? After evaluating the teams, I think the 6-7-8 spots in the East will go to the Rangers, Sabres, and Capitals. You can call me crazy if you like, but I'm just not impressed with the offensive firepower of the Bruins and Flyers. The Sabres aren't much better offensively, but they seem to have a chip on their shoulders that will serve them well, which the Boston and Philadelphia teams lack. Check back next week as I go through the same examination of the bottom the Western Conference playoff race.