After watching from the outside, Jack Hughes and Jack Eichel finally will get to experience the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Tuesday.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning will face each other in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That much we know.

With less than two weeks to go in the 2022-23 NHL regular season, the race for first place in the Pacific Division remains tight. The Vegas Golden Knights, Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers are separated by four points and each team has five games remaining.

With less than three weeks to go in the 2022-23 NHL regular season, three of the four division races are still up for grabs. The tightest race is in the Central Division, where the Minnesota Wild lead the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars by one point.

The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to be a force in the Eastern Conference, where they're second in the Atlantic Division, three points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The New York Rangers entered this season with high expectations after reaching the Eastern Conference Final last season, a six-game loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The New York Islanders and the Buffalo Sabres are separated by four points in the Eastern Conference standings. The Islanders (32-25-8) hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the East. The Sabres (32-26-4) are currently out of playoff position, with three games in hand on New York, and three points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card with 62 games played each.

In what has turned out to be a game with major playoff implications, the Islanders and Sabres will clash at UBS Arena on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET: ESPN+, HULU, SN NOW).

The race obviously won't be decided Tuesday, and it doesn't just involve Buffalo and New York. There are five weeks left in the regular season, and the Sabres and Islanders -- along with the Penguins, Ottawa Senators, Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals - are battling for playoff positioning as well.

But can the up-and-coming Sabres find a way to surpass the veteran Islanders and barge their way into the playoffs?

That's the question before NHL.com columnist Nick Cotsonika and senior director of editorial Shawn P. Roarke in this installment of State Your Case.
 

The NHL Trade Deadline is Friday at 3 p.m. ET. Though many big-name players have already changed teams, they are still plenty of moves to be made by teams that think they have a chance to win the Stanley Cup. Today, in a special Trade Deadline edition of State Your Case, NHL.com staff writers Tom Gulitti and Mike Zeisberger debate what they think the Edmonton Oilers should do to increase their chances of a deep Stanley Cup Playoff run.

The Toronto Maple Leafs appear well on their way to reaching the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the seventh straight season. They are in second place in the Atlantic Division with 76 points (34-15-8), three ahead of the third-place Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Florida Panthers are in an interesting spot heading into their game at the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, HULU, SN NOW).