Capitals can become first team to clinch playoff spot Thursday
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After being the last team to lock up a playoff spot last season, the Washington Capitals have a chance to be the first team to do so this year.
Sitting atop the Eastern Conference and tied with the Winnipeg Jets for first in the NHL, the Capitals will clinch in a spot in the postseason Thursday night with a win over the Philadelphia Flyers and any result other than a New York Islanders win in their game against the Montreal Canadiens.
Washington could also clinch if the team picks up one point Thursday and either the Islanders lose to the Canadiens in any fashion or a Blue Jackets loss to the Panthers in any fashion and an Islanders loss to the Canadiens in regulation.
The Islanders are three points back of the Canadiens for the final wild-card spot entering play Thursday, as are the Blue Jackets, with both teams equal with Montreal with 67 games played.
Entering Thursday's visit to Washington, the Flyers have dropped to second-last in the Eastern Conference, nine points back of the final wild-card spot with a 12-14-7 record on the road this season.
The Capitals have a 45-15-8 record this season through 68 games after finishing with a 40-31-11 record last season. Washington was then swept by the New York Rangers in the first round last spring, with the team having failed to win a playoff series in five postseason trips since winning the Stanley Cup in 2018.
With 14 games left in their season, head coach Spencer Carbery said the focus for the Capitals is shifting to preparing for an extended run in the postseason.
“We still feel like we want to play with urgency and desperation inside of our game, but in the same sentence, it’s nice that we are solidified, essentially, in a playoff spot,” Carbery said, per the Washington Post. “That alleviates some of the - I wouldn’t say stresses, but just the anxiousness of battling and what that does to you mentally as a player, as a coach, as a fan, of being there, in one day, out the next day and knowing that sometimes you don’t control your own destiny. ... It’s a luxury, without a doubt. Now it’s on us as a staff to best utilize that.”
The Capitals hold a 12-point lead on the Carolina Hurricanes for both first in the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference. Washington would face the Canadiens in the first-round if the playoffs started Thursday.