After a rough weekend, the Stanley Cup playoff math has turned daunting for the Capitals. They entered Friday’s game against the New Jersey Devils in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with 69 standings points and left Sunday’s game with the Philadelphia Flyers stuck on that number after a pair of losses.
Washington likely needs at least 91 points to qualify for the postseason. That would mean a 10-6-1 record down the stretch — and even then the Caps must hope no one behind them gets hot. Unfortunately, both Buffalo — which played at Winnipeg on Monday night — and Tampa Bay ripped off winning streaks as the home stretch of the NHL regular season kicked off.
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Now comes the real problem: Going 10-6-1 won’t be easy given the schedule ahead. Washington is 1-2 on its five-game homestand. Three of the next four games are at Verizon Center and none of those opponents — Carolina, Tampa Bay and Toronto — is in a playoff position either. All those games are virtual must-wins now. Why? Check out the road slate.
The Caps play at No. 2 seed and defending Stanley Cup champion Boston on Saturday. And that is the first of two road meetings with the Bruins. Washington has an upcoming five-game road trip that concludes with games at Detroit, which recently had a 23-game home winning streak snapped; Chicago, tied for seventh in the NHL in points (79); and Philadelphia, which is 2-1 against the Caps and sits fifth in the Eastern Conference. Add in a season-finale against the New York Rangers, the top team in the Eastern Conference, and what are essentially road playoff games against Southeast Division rivals Winnipeg and Tampa Bay, and you see how difficult finding 10 wins becomes. All eight remaining home games become precious.
Washington will need some luck. It played two solid games last week against the New York Islanders and the Flyers. Yet it still lost 1-0 to Philadelphia and needed a miracle comeback in the final four minutes to salvage an overtime win against the Islanders. Any more efforts like Friday’s 5-0 loss to New Jersey and you can start setting tee times for early April.
– Brian McNally
