Big points night, weekend for draft watch

The Toronto Maple Leafs are hosting the Edmonton Oilers tonight, and the teams are tied in points. The loser will be in sole possession of the third overall draft pick slot at the end of the night.

The Oilers have been playing excellent hockey lately, and they had a stirring come-from-behind OT win against the Montreal Canadiens Tuesday, the same night that the Leafs blew a late 3-1 lead over Tampa Bay (giving up the tying goal with just seven seconds left in regulation) and then lost it in sudden death when a poor Luke Schenn decision led to an odd-man rush.

Who will prevail? This is one of those games where it looks like Toronto at home, coming off such a bad loss, will bounce back with. But, the Oilers are coming together of late, so if they can get the goaltending tonight, anything is possible.

The Bruins are back home after Tim Thomas's scintillating 41-save shutout (his 5th on the year) in Philly last night, and going up against the same Lightning who ripped out Toronto's heart and also dominated the Bruins on home ice 11 days ago.

Then on Saturday, the Bruins travel to Toronto to face the Leafs for their second matchup of the season, the first Boston having won handily in another Thomas whitewash (and Tyler Seguin's lone home goal on the season scored in that game to the chants of "Thank you, Kessel!")

This is a big potential points swing for the draft watch/Leafs tank nation, so we'll see where we end up on Monday, when I post the updated pick list.