Three Canadian teams have already punched their tickets to the postseason, and with some puck luck, two more could follow suit.

Both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators can clinch playoff berths on Thursday, joining the Montreal Canadiens, Edmonton Oilers, and Calgary Flames.

Here is what needs to happen for each club to earn a postseason place:

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Maple Leafs currently hold the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 93 points, five up on both the New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Toronto can clinch a spot if it defeats Tampa Bay in regulation or overtime. Alternately, if Toronto loses to the Lightning in a shootout and the Islanders also lose to the Carolina Hurricanes in any fashion, the Maple Leafs will earn a playoff berth.

Ottawa Senators

The Senators sit one point above the Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division, but find themselves in second place behind Montreal. They're tied with the Bruins in points, but have a game in hand over Boston.

In order to earn a spot, the Senators need just a point against the Bruins on Thursday. However, they can also clinch with a regulation loss, as long as both the Lightning and Islanders lose.

It's safe to say there will be a lot of scoreboard watching on Thursday night from Ontario hockey fans.

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Jack Eichel hates losing.

The Buffalo Sabres phenom wrapped up the home portion of his second NHL season Wednesday night, and a 2-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens did little to take the sour taste of another wasted campaign out of his mouth.

"It sucks," Eichel said of an offseason coming far too soon, according to the Times Herald's Bill Hoppe. "We didn't make any improvement from last year. It's another failed season."

Buffalo sits 33-35-12 with two games left.

Should the Sabres win out, they'll finish with 82 points, a one-point improvement over Eichel's rookie year, when Dan Bylsma made his debut behind the Sabres' bench.

Clearly, though, Eichel views anything less than a playoff spot as a disappointment. And expectations were high coming into the 2015 second overall draft pick's sophomore season.

A high-ankle sprain forced Eichel to miss the first two months of 2016-17, and while the Sabres were able to somewhat tread water without No. 15 - Buffalo was 7-9-5 on the night Eichel made his season debut, on Nov. 29 - they were never able to hit a top gear they thought they had.

Personally, it was a stellar season for Eichel, despite his injury. He's second on the Sabres in goals (24) and first in points (57) despite playing only 59 games.

Eichel's proved he's ready to take his game to the next level. Now the Sabres must do the same.

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Carey Price versus Henrik Lundqvist. Sidney Crosby against Brandon Dubinsky.

The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Eastern Conference is taking shape, with two matchups confirmed after the Washington Capitals won their second straight Presidents' Trophy on Wednesday.

The Montreal Canadiens - your Atlantic Division champions - will face the New York Rangers when the postseason begins, with the Blueshirts locked in as the East's first wild card. Game 1 will be in Montreal.

Montreal won the season series 3-0.

The beastly Metropolitan Division's No. 2 and No. 3 seeds are the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets, and they'll meet in the opening round for the second time in four years.

Pittsburgh won in six games in 2014.

Home ice between Pittsburgh and Columbus has yet to be determined. The Penguins have 109 points to the Blue Jackets' 106, and both teams have three games to play.

Pittsburgh will close out its season on the road in New Jersey, Toronto, and Manhattan. Columbus is home to Winnipeg, in Philadelphia, and in Toronto on Sunday.

The clubs split the season series.

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Donald Fehr, executive director of the NHL Players' Association (NHLPA), was a guest on Sportsnet's "The Jeff Blair Show" on Wednesday morning and talked about the league's decision to sit out the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The main takeaway: the players will not forget the NHL's decision, one they vehemently disagree with. They want to be there.

Fehr said Olympic participation wasn't part of previous collective bargaining talks because no one saw this decision coming, not after NHLers have become such an integral part of the winter games.

"No one envisioned that the owners would take this kind of view. It's basically just shortsighted, and clearly, as we see it, contrary to the best interests of the game and the growth of the game," Fehr said.

Fehr added that while last summer's World Cup was a success, it's nowhere near the level of popularity that ice hockey at the Olympics has enjoyed, and it's going to take time for the World Cup to get there - if it ever does. The PA believes the 2018 Games offers an inroad into Asia, where the league wants to make its mark, making this decision all the more unwise.

"The real question is, why do you simply walk away from incredible numbers of hours of programming that are going to reach all kinds of people that would not otherwise see NHL players," he said.

"All I can say is this," Fehr added. "If the notion is that players will just say 'Oh well, it's too bad, the CBA didn't provide for it or we wish it were different' ... and we can just go on with life as usual, or as if this hadn't happened, I think that's a very, very, very unlikely possibility."

Fehr went on about what the Olympics mean to players, what it means to represent their countries, and how the opportunity only comes along on rare occasions for a select few, who take much pride in it.

"In the statement we issued, I said that a decent respect for the opinions of the players matters, or ought to matter, and it's clear here that it did not and that's too bad. And we also think it's a very foolish and shortsighted marketing and promotional decision.

"If the notion is that everybody will just forget about this, I suspect that's not going to be the case."

The current CBA between the PA and the NHL was ratified in January 2013 and is in effect until Sept. 15, 2022, according to the PA's website. Both parties have the right to terminate the deal after eight years.

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The Presidents' Trophy is staying in Washington.

Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals will have the NHL's best regular-season record and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs for the second consecutive campaign thanks to a 2-0 victory over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.

The Capitals won the Presidents' Trophy last season with a 56-18-8 record before being eliminated by the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games in the Eastern Conference semifinal.

Washington sits atop the conference and the Metropolitan Division at 54-18-8 with two games remaining in its regular-season schedule.

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Justin Williams has a knack for scoring clutch goals, but he also doesn't see anything wrong with a little bump and grind.

The Washington Capitals forward took Adam Clendening down with his posterior Wednesday night, crunching the New York Rangers defenseman with a big-time butt check.

To his credit, Clendening turned the other cheek and was apparently no worse for wear.

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It's a new era for the lottery-bound Detroit Red Wings, but at least they have the future.

Dennis Cholowski signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the club, the Red Wings announced Wednesday.

The 19-year-old defenseman collected 12 points over 36 games in his freshman season with St. Cloud State.

He was selected 20th overall by Detroit in 2016.

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Concerning news out of Buffalo on Wednesday night.

Sabres forward Kyle Okposo has been hospitalized in intensive care and is undergoing tests due to an undetermined illness, according to the Associated Press.

Earlier in the day, head coach Dan Bylsma said he was "very concerned" about his player's health, announcing that Okposo wouldn't play against Montreal and was unlikely to play again this season.

The Buffalo News added that Okposo is in the Neuro Surgical ICU at Buffalo General Hospital.

Okposo missed most of March due to rib injury, returning to the lineup on March 25 before being sidelined again due to illness.

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