(My Sportsbook) - More than likely, neither the Ottawa Senators nor the Atlanta Thrashers will be part of this year's Eastern Conference playoffs. That hasn't stopped either team from playing inspired hockey down the stretch, however.

The two clubs will try to keep up their recent strong play when they face off tonight at Philips Arena.

Ottawa won five straight contests and nine times in a 10-game span before being edged by a red-hot Carolina squad Wednesday in Raleigh. The Hurricanes scored twice in the third period in the 2-1 victory, with Anton Babchuk netting the tie-breaking tally on the power play with 6:01 left.

Ryan Shannon scored the lone goal for the Senators, while goaltender Brian Elliott stopped 28 shots and had a personal eight-game win streak halted.

The loss left Ottawa with 74 points on the season, nine less than eighth- seeded Montreal in the East standings. The Senators have nine games remaining in the regular season.

Atlanta won for the eighth time in its last 11 outings with Thursday's thrilling 5-4 comeback triumph over the playoff-hopeful New York Rangers at Philips Arena. The Thrashers scored three unanswered goals in regulation to overcome a 4-1 deficit, then prevailed on Todd White's score in the sixth round of the shootout.

White also recorded the game-tying goal with just under seven minutes remaining in the third period for Atlanta, which had lost three of four coming in. Ilya Kovalchuk, the Thrashers' leading scorer, contributed a goal and two assists to the winning effort.

Kari Lehtonen started between the pipes for Atlanta but left after one period due to an undisclosed upper-body injury. His replacement, Johan Hedberg, stopped just 14-of-17 shots during regulation and overtime, but turned back all six New York skaters in the shootout.

Lehtonen is considered questionable for tonight's tilt.

The Thrashers, who play the middle test of a three-game homestand this evening, are just 15-19-2 as the host this season but have won four of their last five outings at Philips Arena.

Ottawa has gone 1-1-0 so far on a six-game road trip and owns a 12-19-4 away record for the season.

The Senators have won five of the last seven meetings between these teams, including a 3-2 triumph in Atlanta on January 14.