The Most Important Games for a conference are those games in the upcoming week whose outcome most changes the final playoff picture. The Importance Factor provides a relative importance between games. Use this table to identify the most interesting Eastern conference games in the upcoming week of play. Click a team name to proceed to the team playoff picture page.
| Game | Importance Factor (0‑∼100) |
|
|---|---|---|
| Home | Visitor | |
| Canadiens (39‑31‑10) |
Blackhawks (23‑46‑11) |
5 |
| Capitals (50‑20‑9) |
Blue Jackets (37‑33‑9) |
5 |
| Lightning (45‑26‑8) |
Sabres (35‑37‑7) |
2 |
| Panthers (47‑29‑4) |
Rangers (37‑36‑7) |
1 |
| Hurricanes (47‑27‑5) |
Maple Leafs (49‑26‑4) |
1 |
| Red Wings (37‑35‑7) |
Stars (50‑24‑6) |
0 |