NHL playoff standings: Key games to watch on the final day - ESPN

Thursday is the final night of the 2023-24 NHL regular season, with the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs set to begin Saturday.

Although the identity of all 16 playoff teams is known, the eight matchups are not all locked in. So which games matter most?

Sadly for those with early bedtimes on the East Coast, the two games most vital to the playoff bracket have opening puck drop times with four digits in them.

The Vegas Golden Knights currently hold the Pacific Division's No. 3 seed, with 98 points and 34 regulation wins. They'll host the Anaheim Ducks (10 p.m. ET, NHL Power Play on ESPN+). One point behind them in the standings sit the Los Angeles Kings, though L.A. is ahead in regulation wins, the first tiebreaker. The Kings will host the Chicago Blackhawks (10:30 p.m. ET, NHL Power Play on ESPN+), in the swan song of Connor Bedard's rookie campaign.

Both teams are heavily favored to win. But, in the event the Knights only pick up one point to the Kings' two, the tiebreak would go to L.A.

As mentioned, the spot at stake between these two is the P3 position — and a first-round matchup against the Edmonton Oilers — or the second West wild card, which yields a matchup with the Dallas Stars.

But it's not all about the postseason! The race for the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's regular-season scoring leader could be in play as well. Currently, Nikita Kucherov leads with 144 points. Skating against each other are the Nos. 2 and 3 players in the race, Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid. The Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers face off a little earlier (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN), and while their playoff seeds are locked in, a scoring title for their franchise center would be a nice way for those teams to close out game No. 82. MacKinnon is