The Washington Capitals’ loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday was a big blow to their playoff chances and the Pens showed why on Saturday.
Led by two goals from Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby’s 40th of the season, the Penguins defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-4, despite a frantic comeback attempt by Jon Cooper’s squad in the final two minutes of the game.
The regulation victory gave Pittsburgh 83 standings points, jumping the Penguins ahead of the Capitals (82) in the standings and into the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Capitals have lost five straight games, managing to nab only one standings points out of a possible 10 during that time.
Due to that tough stretch, the Capitals have slid down the standings and now sit sixth in the Metropolitan Division and 10th in the Eastern Conference at large. With six games remaining in the regular season, the Capitals hold a game in-hand over two of the teams directly in front of them, the Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers.
They have two angles to enter the 2024 playoffs, securing either the third guaranteed spot in the Metropolitan Division — the Islanders currently occupy the spot with 83 standings points — or beating out four different teams (Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Buffalo) for the second wild card.
Washington will resume their chase for a postseason appearance as they play Ottawa on Sunday night. The Capitals have split their previous two matchups against the team (1-1-0), but have been outscored by the young Sens squad 9-7.
The Capitals have the 14th most difficult remaining schedule, according to Tankathon, with games against playoff teams Boston and Tampa left. They also have three games against teams they are directly battling with including Buffalo, Detroit, and a matchup against the Flyers on the final day of the regular season.
