The Washington Capitals are on the outside looking in of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
With the Capitals’ depressing 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night, they have lost four games in a row and fallen behind the New York Islanders for the second wild card spot in the East. The Islanders won their third game in a row to jump over the Caps — a 4-2 decision over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Here’s a look at what the standings look like after the two games concluded.
The Capitals remain at 82 standings points, one point behind the Islanders (83) in the wild card race. The Capitals’ only solace is that they have a game in-hand on the Isles.
After beating the Caps, the Penguins (81 points) have their own three-game winning streak and are now just two points behind the Islanders. Pittsburgh has also played 76 games so the Caps have one game in-hand on them as well.
The idle Detroit Red Wings are now tied with the Capitals at 82 points. The two teams are set to wrap up their season series against one another on April 9 in Detroit.
In the Metropolitan Division, the Philadelphia Flyers are clinging onto the third and final guaranteed playoff spot despite a 2-5-3 record in their last 10. The two teams meet in the final game of the season on April 16.
According to MoneyPuck, the Capitals had 54.6 percent odds of making the playoffs coming into Thursday. With their regulation loss, that percentage chance has dropped 15.3 percent to 39.3 percent.
Pens-Caps tonight had a 29 percentage point swing for the Caps and 18 percentage points for the Pens. https://t.co/n9oXQqCiYg pic.twitter.com/zya2EZWJZ2
— MoneyPuck.com (@MoneyPuckdotcom) April 4, 2024
The Capitals, Red Wings, and Flyers will all be active on Friday night. There is still a ton of shifting and moving that could go on once all three games with 7 pm start times wrap up.
Per Tankathon, the Capitals have the ninth hardest remaining schedule in the NHL with tough games against the Carolina Hurricanes, Boston Bruins, and Tampa Bay Lightning still left to be played.
Their easiest game remaining comes on Sunday against the Ottawa Senators, effectively making that a must-win matchup.
