With their 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, the Washington Capitals clinched the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and in the process, officially set the new salary cap era record (2005-06) for the team with the lowest goal differential (minus-37) to qualify for the postseason.
The Capitals’ minus-37 is the worst goal differential to make the playoffs since the 1990-91 season — 33 years — when the Vancouver Canucks qualified with a minus-72. The Canucks lost in the first round of the playoffs that year to a Los Angeles Kings team that featured Wayne Gretzky. The Canucks were out-scored in those six first-round games 26-16 (minus-10 goal differential).
The Capitals had the sixth-worst goal differential overall in the NHL this season and are the 15th salary cap era team to qualify for the postseason with a negative goal differential, joining the 2023-24 New York Islanders (minus-17).
“Everybody’s going to say we’ve got no business being here, the goal differential, blah, blah, blah — that’s going to be the narrative,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said after Tuesday night’s victory over the Flyers. “And that’s fine. It’s warranted. It’s a fact. But I know this group isn’t just going to be content showing up in the Stanley Cup playoffs. We want to go and put our best foot forward — show what we’re capable of doing as a group and play well in all these games right up to our standard. And if that’s good enough to win some games and knock off an opponent, we’ll find out.”
The Capitals will enter their first-round series against the New York Rangers heavy underdogs. The Rangers are the Presidents’ Trophy winners after notching an NHL-high 114 standings points. The Capitals, meanwhile, have the fewest standings points of any team in the playoffs this year (91).
“If you look throughout the whole hockey season, any team can beat any team on any given night. We played the Rangers pretty well this year. We were 2-2, both had nine goals for, nine goals against,” Dylan Strome said at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Thursday, citing the Capitals’ goal differential against the Rangers of zero. “I think anything can happen in playoffs. You saw what happened last year: The best team in regular-season history loses to Florida because they had a good end of the season and they kind of carried it towards playoffs. We’ve won three in a row, we’re feeling good. The momentum’s kind of with us.”
The team with the previous worst goal differential to make the playoffs during the salary cap era was the 2011-12 Florida Panthers, finishing that year with a minus-24. The Panthers won the Southeast Division and finished sixth overall in the Eastern Conference with 94 standings points during the regular season. They’d go on to lose in the first round to the New Jersey Devils in seven games.
The Capitals got so far underwater in goals by winning close and losing big.
Washington finished the season with 16 one-goal wins — tied for fifth most in the NHL this season (the number does not include shootout wins). They’ve also lost a staggering 13 games by four or more goals.
How the Capitals won and lost games in 2023-24
| Goal +/- | Result | GP |
|---|---|---|
| >= +4 | W | 3 |
| +3 | W | 9 |
| +2 | W | 8 |
| +1 | OTW | 4 |
| +1 | SOW | 4 |
| +1 | W | 12 |
| -1 | L | 2 |
| -1 | OTL | 6 |
| -1 | SOL | 5 |
| -2 | L | 5 |
| -3 | L | 11 |
| <= -4 | L | 13 |
Full disclosure: This article uses some updated copy and statistics from a goal differential story published on Monday.
