If the incentive of playing playoff hockey was enough for most fringe playoff teams, one might not have known it in the final weekend of the regular season.

The Edmonton Oil Kings and Prince Albert Raiders will face off Tuesday in Prince Albert in the rarest of all forms: a tiebreaker. Many of the players playing in Tuesday's tiebreaker weren't yet born the last time the league needed a tiebreaker in the 1989-90 season. This is just the fourth time in league history an extra game will be played to decide a playoff spot.

The tiebreaker is necessary because the Raiders and Oil Kings both finished with 67 points each. The Raiders had two more wins than Edmonton, thus deciding where the game would be played.

"If we had to (travel to Edmonton) I don't think anyone would have complained. You'd rather be playing than packing up and going home," Raiders head coach and general manager Bruno Campese told Sportsnet.ca Monday. "Having the right to play the game at home is obviously good for our fan base and good for our players that we do get that game at home."

The Raiders will have a big advantage when they host the Oil Kings at the Art Hauser Centre. As of late Monday, only standing room tickets were still available for purchase.

The Raiders feel fortunate to have the opportunity in the one-game showdown with Edmonton. After losing their final game of the regular season to Saskatoon on Saturday, Prince Albert needed an Edmonton regulation loss to the Red Deer Rebels on Sunday.

In spite of hosting the game, and playing the back-end of a home-and-home with the non-playoff bound Rebels, Edmonton saw their lead and playoff spot slip through their hands. Red Deer won 2-1 in Edmonton on the strength of two third period goals by Carter Smith.

"It was definitely disappointing," Oil Kings head coach Steve Pleau said. "It's right within your grasp and you control your own destiny. It's not an easy thing."

In saying that, heading to Prince Albert for the tiebreak makes the young Oil Kings feel like the underdog, a role Pleau believes will benefit his team.

"The guys are real excited," Pleau said Monday. "It's one of those things that we feel we're getting a second chance. If we just play our game, we'll give ourselves a chance."

The Raiders arrived at the rink Sunday morning, not sure whether they would be performing exit meetings on Monday or practicing for the biggest game of the season Tuesday.

Campese acknowledged it was hard to watch the game, knowing his team's fate sat in the hands of the Rebels. Considering the circumstances, as Edmonton lost both games to Red Deer in regulation on the weekend, the Raiders understand how fortunate they are to be playing in Tuesday's game.

"Edmonton really had the driver's seat to be quite honest," Campese said. "They controlled the cards this weekend. All they really needed was a point (in either game against Red Deer) so I guess in saying that, yeah, we feel fortunate that Red Deer came up with two very big wins."

The game will have a playoff format. Should overtime be required Tuesday, the Raiders and Oil Kings will play a 20-minute, sudden-death period until a winner is decided. The winner of Tuesday's game will advance to face the regular season champion Calgary Hitmen in the opening round beginning Thursday in Calgary.

The Lewiston MAINEiacs of the Québec Major Junior Hockey League were in a similar position Sunday. Tied with the Val-d'Or Foreurs with 46 points, Lewiston held the advantage Sunday by virtue of having more wins than Val-d'Or, needing a win or a Foreurs loss to gain entry into the playoffs.

Playing in what will likely be their final season in Lewiston, as the team filed a relocation request to the league for next season, no one would have blamed the MAINEiacs for missing the playoffs in their tumultuous final season.

The team chose not to update the out-of-town scoreboard during the game, in order to make the players accountable to make the playoffs on their own volition. MAINEiacs head coach Don MacAdam and his staff checked the score between Val-d'Or and Montreal's game during intermissions. The outcome, as MacAdam described it, was "far closer to shocking than surprising."

The Foreurs lost to the Montreal Juniors by a final count of 12-1, giving the MAINEiacs the final playoff spot and first round matchup with regular season champion Drummondville.

Lewiston managed to salvage the extra point anyways, tying their game with Chicoutimi with just eight seconds remaining in regulation. The Saguenéens went on to win in the shootout.

"One of the things everyone wants going into the playoffs is to be playing well and we were more concerned about our performance and getting the two points than anything else," MacAdam said. "We wanted to make sure we could get in the playoffs first and foremost any way we could but it was just a nice bonus to have such an exciting game."

In the Ontario Hockey League, the Oshawa Generals' post-John Tavares era finished on the outside looking in. Oshawa lost all three of their final games, managing just one point in a shootout loss to Brampton on Sunday.

With their losses, the Sudbury Wolves made it back to the playoffs after failing to do so last season. Sudbury managed three of a possible six points in their final three outings, squeaking in a point ahead of the Generals. Sudbury will meet the defending Eastern Conference champion Belleville Bulls in the first round.