The New York Islanders couldn’t close out the New York Rangers on Saturday, falling 3-2 in the shootout. But by forcing overtime, the Isles, left for dead earlier in the season, got even closer to clinching a playoff spot and eliminating the Washington Capitals from the third and final guaranteed playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division.
With the OT loss, the Isles moved up to 90 points with two games remaining in their season. The Capitals, who have 85, would need to go 2-0-1 in their final three games at least and hope the Islanders lose both of their final games against the New Jersey Devils (away) and Pittsburgh Penguins (home) just to tie.
With the M3 spot all but clinched, the Capitals must turn their focus to the second wild card spot in the East, where they’re fighting the Pittsburgh Penguins (86) — the current occupant of the final playoff spot — and two other teams tied with them: the Detroit Red Wings (85) and Philadelphia Flyers (85).
All three teams play tonight.
The Capitals play the Tampa Bay Lightning at Capital One Arena before closing their season with a difficult back-to-back against the Boston Bruins (home) and Philadelphia Flyers (away) on Monday and Tuesday.
The Penguins have games against the Boston Bruins (home), Nashville Predators (home), and New York Islanders (away); the Red Wings play the Toronto Maple Leafs (away) and the Montreal Canadiens (home & away); and the Flyers will face the New Jersey Devils (home) and Washington Capitals (home) to close the season.
Coming into today, Money Puck had the Capitals’ chances of still making the playoffs at 19 percent.
Playoffs odds as of Friday https://t.co/RbnckCLHNP pic.twitter.com/DiDYa8tYUO
— MoneyPuck.com (@MoneyPuckdotcom) April 12, 2024
Update, 11:20 pm: At the end of the night’s games, the Capitals are now sitting in the second wild card spot after beating the Lightning 4-2 and the Penguins losing in regulation to the Bruins.
