With less than a week remaining in the NHL’s regular season, playoff matchups are beginning to take shape and bad blood between teams is starting to boil. When looking at the final 55 total games of the regular season, whether it’s a potential playoff matchup or the final meeting between two bitter division rivals, there are a number of intriguing matchups that will surely be played out with a playoff-esque tone. The most exciting time in hockey is right around the corner.

Here’s a look at five key games that are taking place in the final week of the NHL’s regular season. Matchups which are sure to go down as good old-fashioned barn burners heading into the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Detroit Red Wings at Pittsburgh Penguins- Wednesday, April 9th

With what looks to be a first-round matchup between two Stanley Cup final rivals, the Red Wings and the Penguins will preview a potential series that won’t be for the faint-hearted. Before the Red Wings moved to the Eastern Conference for the start of this season, the two clubs had met in the Stanley Cup final twice since 2008. Although the Penguins look to have the edge due to their superior record, the red-hot Gustav Nyquist and his Red Wing teammates would beg to differ. Like their potential series against each other, this game is going to be a tight one.

Montreal Canadiens at Chicago Blackhawks- Wednesday, April 9th

Here is an Original Six matchup that can very well be a preview of what we can expect to see in this season’s Stanley Cup final. Nobody is playing better hockey than the Canadiens at the moment and even though the Blackhawks may still be missing Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, they always seem to figure out a way to be extremely competitive. It will be interesting to see how well Carey Price can handle the inevitable onslaught of the Blackhawks’ offense.

San Jose Sharks at Anaheim Ducks- Wednesday, April 9th

Just in case these two bitter Pacific Division rivals play each other at some point during the playoffs, they will both look to leave a lasting impression on one another during their last meeting of the regular season. There’s no love lost between these two clubs as both can make strong cases of being the better playoff team that’s coming out of the Pacific. Expect an intensity filled, back and forth style of hockey game with plenty of fireworks at each end of the ice. This game could be a preview of a future seven game series in the making.

New York Rangers at Montreal Canadiens- Saturday, April 12th

If there are any two goaltenders in the NHL that can single handedly carry their team to at the very least, a birth in the Conference finals, it has to be either Henrik Lundqvist or Carey Price. Both Vezina Trophy candidates will go head to head in what could be a preview of a potential second round matchup to see who would go on to play as one half of an Eastern Conference final. Price and the Canadiens would seem to have the edge only because they will enjoy home ice advantage not only in this game, but if they met the Rangers in the playoffs as well.

Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh Penguins- Saturday, April 12th

Of all the remaining rivalries in the NHL today, the on-going battle between the Flyers and the Penguins can’t be beat. With Claude Giroux at the top of his game and Sidney Crosby never missing a beat, this game has playoff matchup implications written all over it. What would be a repeat of the 2012 Eastern Conference quarterfinals, a series between the Flyers and Penguins would prove to be one of the most entertaining in quite some time.