The Washington Capitals clinched the eighth spot in the NHL’s 2023 Draft Lottery after snatching defeat from the jaws of victory – a hallmark of Peter Laviolette’s 2022-23 team.

The Capitals scored the game’s first three goals of the game, and were up at one moment 4-1 in the second period, before giving up four unanswered goals to the young and upstart New Jersey Devils, who finished second in the Metropolitan Division.

Luke Hughes scored the overtime game-winning goal, his first career goal in his second career game, after his initial shot leaked past Darcy Kuemper and he scored on a wraparound.

The Capitals got one standings point in the game, tying them with the Detroit Red Wings at 80. The Red Wings lost 5-0 to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, but due to the Capitals having one less regulation win than Detroit, the Red Wings win the tiebreaker, sliding up to ninth worst.

The Capitals will now have the possibility of either drafting first, second, third, eighth, ninth, or tenth, depending on how the chips fall in the Draft Lottery. The Capitals will have a 6% chance at moving up to the first overall pick and drafting Connor Bedard. They will have a 6.4% chance at jumping up to the second overall pick.

The Capitals went 6-10-4 down the stretch to get into the position despite posting mostly optimal lineups. The only teams that did worse were the ones who were tanking: Chicago, Anaheim, Montreal, San Jose, Columbus, and Detroit.

What is it the people say these days?

Screaming. Crying. Throwing up. pic.twitter.com/6wYczwYw2X

— x – New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) April 14, 2023