Anyone up for a Stanley Cup playoff primer? The Capitals have nine games left starting tonight in Philadelphia. Here’s a chart showing most outcomes as teams race for seeding in the Eastern Conference. The first real tiebreaker used will be wins – but without shootout victories included. The general managers made that change after last season. The next tiebreaker is head-to-head competition. If for some reason that isn’t enough then goal differential is used as a last resort.
I limited this to regulation wins and losses. No need to include every possible scenario involving overtime or shootouts. That’s not the purpose here. Just wanted to give a sense of what it will take for the Caps to hold off teams below them, win the Southeast Division and possibly finish first in the conference. Note: Washington has three shootout wins this season so use that when figuring the initial tiebreaker.
