Wednesday's NHL Round-Up and Outlook and All the Goals from Tuesday (Video)

Tuesday's Round-Up...

There were several big games on Tuesday night. None was bigger than the showdown in the desert between Dallas and Phoenix. As in most vital Western Conference games, it went to overtime and eventually to a skills competition with the Yotes winning 2-1 on Ray Whitney's shoot out goal. In picking up a point, Dallas is still in ninth place on the outside looking in with three tough road games ahead.

Vancouver clinched the Western Conference title with a near perfect 3-1 win over Nashville with Alex Burrows picking up the first two goals.

Chicago played the seconds half of their Versus back to backs and lost to Boston 3-0 in another Tim Thomas shut out as he continues to try to claim the Vezina trophy.

Los Angeles played their first post Anze Kopitar injury game in Edmonton and Captain Dustin Brown got both goals in a 2-0 win in Edmonton. The Kings maintained their fifth place position and put two points between them and sixth place Nashville.

Toronto kept their slim playoff hopes alive by beating Buffalo 4-3 to stay withing five points with five games remaining.

Likewise, Carolina hung with Washington and forced a shoot out where they won 3-2 to pull within three points of Buffalo for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East.

Tampa Bay got two goals each from Martin St. Louis and Dominic Moore as the Lightning handled Ottawa 5-2 and maintained their fifth seed in the East.

Montreal scored for the first time in four games in beating Atlanta 3-1 as they scored two goals eleven seconds apart in the first period to avoid breaking a team record of being shut out four consecutive games.

Philadelphia stretched their margin over Pittsburgh to four points by easily handling the Pens in a 5-2 victory at the Consol Center. Ville Leino had two goals and an assist to lead the Flyers.

In games of little consequence, Columbus beat Florida 3-2 in a shootout in front of 11,670 fans when tickets were going for five dollars. Minnesota ended their eight game losing streak by beating St. Louis 3-2 in another shoot out.

Tonight's action...

New York Rangers at Buffalo (6:00 CDT) It is a battle for seventh in the East in a potential match between Henrik Lundqvist and Ryan Miller.

New York Islander at New Jersey (6:00) On the other end of the spectrum, it is a match for draft positioning in this cross town rivalry.

Montreal at Carolina (6:00) The Hurricanes are looking to close the gap on Buffalo and could pull withing a point of eight place with a win and a Sabre loss.

St. Louis at Detroit (6:30) The Wings hope to solidify they second place seed and division lead with a win over a division rival in a game that they should win.

Anaheim at Calgary (8:30) This is an absolute must win game for the Flames who will only have four more games after tonight and can only get to 97 points if they win out which may not be enough to make the playoffs in the Western Conference.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass