The Washington Capitals’ only path to the playoffs now is through the Metropolitan Division.
The Capitals (89 standings points) were officially eliminated from the Eastern Conference’s second wild card spot after the Ottawa Senators (96) defeated the New York Islanders 3-0, getting goals from Ridly Grieg, Jake Sanderson, and Michael Amadio.
The game featured a fight off the opening faceoff as Brady Tkachuk threw hands with Anders Lee. Tkachuk later left the game early after being struck in the jaw by a puck in the neutral zone as he came on the ice for a shift change.
Despite being eliminated from the eighth seed, the Capitals actually saw their playoff odds improve from 7.2 percent to 11.6 percent with the Islanders’ loss, per MoneyPuck.
The race for the Metropolitan Division’s third and final playoff spot is down to the Philadelphia Flyers (92), New York Islanders (91), Columbus Blue Jackets (90, and the Capitals (89).
Standings as of 4:45 pm
Games remaining for the Metro teams
Flyers: @WPG, CAR, MTL
Islanders: MTL, CAR
Blue Jackets: @MTL, BOS, WSH
Capitals: @PIT, PIT, @CBJ
