Why Pittsburgh Penguins fans are now rooting for the Washington Capitals

April 8, 2023 1:15 pm

All 32 teams in the NHL will play on Saturday for the first time in NHL history. There are several games that will be crucial in the three-team, wild-card playoff race between the Eastern Conference’s Florida Panthers, New York Islanders, and Pittsburgh Penguins.

One of those games on Saturday involves the Washington Capitals and comes against the Panthers who are clinging to one of the still up-for-grabs wild-card spots.

If the Capitals win and play spoilers, they would provide a path to the postseason for the Penguins.

So basically, everyone in Pittsburgh will be rooting for the Caps tonight, which is the strangest timeline.

Florida enters Saturday’s action at the head of the pack with 89 standings points with the Islanders behind them on a tiebreaker also with 89 points and the Penguins one more place back at 88 points. All three teams have played 79 games and as things stand the Pens would be the team missing out on the playoffs.

The Caps’ impact on Pittsburgh’s season doesn’t end with Florida though as their very next game comes against the Islanders on Monday. It’ll be the third time in less than a month that the Caps and Isles have done battle.

The Caps won the first matchup 5-1 and then dropped the second in a shootout 2-1. That latter loss came four days after the Penguins beat the Caps 4-3 in Pittsburgh and kicked off the Caps’ current five-game losing streak.

MoneyPuck currently has the Pens’ chances of making the playoffs at just 43.7 percent which is over 30 percent less than both the Panthers (75.4%) and the Islanders (80%).

This isn’t the first time the two rival teams have had an impact on each other making the postseason. For the 2018 playoffs, Sidney Crosby clinched a playoff spot for the Capitals when he scored an overtime-winning goal against the New Jersey Devils.

It might be an uphill battle though for the Caps as Alex Ovechkin has been listed as a game-time decision on Saturday due to injury. The Caps will also be missing Anthony Mantha and starting backup goaltender Charlie Lindgren against Florida.

4:45 pm update: The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Detroit Red Wings 5-1 on Saturday. With the win, the Penguins moved into the first wild-card spot hours ahead of the Caps-Panthers game.

Here’s a look at the updated standings.