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Capitals will be eliminated from playoff contention tonight with win from Penguins or Panthers

By Chris Cerullo

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April 4, 2023 2:03 pm

The Washington Capitals’ playoff hopes could be officially dead as early as tonight.

Should the Pittsburgh Penguins or Florida Panthers come up with a win of any kind in their respective games on Tuesday night, the Capitals will be officially eliminated from contention. To stay alive in a purely mathematical sense the Caps will need the Buffalo Sabres to take down the Panthers and the New Jersey Devils to knock off the Pens.

The Caps, for all intents and purposes, have been out of the running for some time now. They haven’t appeared on MoneyPuck’s playoff odds visual for several days now and have clinched their worst full, 82-game season in 16 years.

The race for the Eastern Conference’s two wild card playoff spots appears to be down to three teams. The New York Islanders and their 87 points lead the pack with the Pens (86 points) and Panthers (85 points) on their heels. After Tuesday, all three teams will have played 78 total games.

Not only can the Pens knock the Caps fully out with a win but they also can do a whole lot of good for themselves with two points.

The three teams aren’t just fighting for their postseason lives. The team that finishes in the first wild card spot will play the winner of the Metropolitan Division and will not have to face the insanely dominant Boston Bruins in the first round.

The Bruins, boosted by former Capitals Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway, have already clinched the Presidents’ Trophy and become just the fourth-ever NHL team to win 60 games. They were also the fastest-ever team to hit 100 points, besting the 1976-77 Canadiens by one game.

While all of that business gets taken care of, the only race the Caps should be concerned with is the race toward increasing their odds of winning the draft lottery and being able to select first overall in the 2023 draft.

Their odds there on MoneyPuck have increased slightly to 4.1 percent, the ninth-highest in the league. The 11 worst teams in the NHL will have a chance at the first overall pick.

Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB

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