The Washington Capitals can make a jump up the standings in the Eastern Conference in their next game. That game comes against the Vegas Golden Knights, Wednesday.

A win in Vegas would propel the Caps above the idle Pittsburgh Penguins and into the third spot in the Metropolitan Division. Both teams would then have five games left in their seasons to remain out of the Wild Card positions.

👀if we win on Wednesday, third place is ours.. #Caps pic.twitter.com/eCy3ATqz3P

— julia (@casadoresdean) April 19, 2022

Standing in their way of that is a Golden Knights team that is floundering at exactly the wrong time in the regular season. Their loss to the lowly New Jersey Devils on Monday sliced their playoff chances by 16-percent.

Playoff chances as of Tueday. Vegas at 20% and Vancouver at 11.7% https://t.co/RbnckCLHNP pic.twitter.com/e4c5lHFfmb

— MoneyPuck.com (@MoneyPuckdotcom) April 19, 2022

They now sit three points behind the Los Angeles Kings for 3rd in the Pacific Division and four points behind the Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars for the Wild Card spots with five games remaining. The Caps could essentially end their season with a regulation win and we know they’ve been capable of doing that before.

The Caps will go into Wednesday night’s action winners of six of their last seven. That stretch includes huge wins over other future NHL playoff combatants in the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Colorado Avalanche. A move out of the second Wild Card spot would mean they avoid a potential first-round matchup with the rampaging Florida Panthers.

The Golden Knights on the other hand have lost two in a row and will be absolutely desperate for points due to the aforementioned reasons.

Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB