After a few days in the unknown, we finally know the full field of teams that will fight for the 2024 Stanley Cup starting on the weekend of April 20.
The Washington Capitals clinched the NHL’s final playoff spot in an absolutely bizarre and absurd fashion on Tuesday, April 16, with a couple of days to spare before the regular season ends on Thursday.
The Capitals needed a win over the Philadelphia Flyers in their matchup while the latter needed a victory themselves as well as regulation losses by both the Capitals (playing against them) and the Detroit Red Wings.
With around three minutes left in the Capitals game, which was tied at 1-1, Flyers’ head coach John Tortorella decided to pull his goalie in a desperate attempt to score the game-winning goal that would have kept Philadelphia’s hopes alive. The move backfired, Capitals’ forward T.J. Oshie scored an empty-net goal on the other end, and Washington punched its ticket to the playoffs.
Capitals & Flyers Weren’t Aware of Detroit’s Comeback
The Capitals empty-net goal is understandable in the context of the Washington vs. Philadelphia game. When put together with what went down in Detroit, however, it takes a turn for the absolutely bizarre.
The Red Wings, who trailed the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 with seconds left in the final period, scored a game-tying goal with 3.3 seconds left.
By then, the Capitals and Flyers were still tied 1-1, but nobody informed Tortorella about the situation and the fact that Detroit had forced overtime. That wouldn’t have helped the Flyers as they would have been eliminated with the Wings earning a loser’s point at the very least in OT, but pulling the goalie made things much easier for Washinton.
“We’ll take it,” Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin told reporters after the game, via Associated Press’ Stephen Whyno. “Thanks, Philly.”
With the win, the Capitals are back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs after missing out last season and navigating a wild campaign this year that saw him go from underdogs to contenders from October through mid-April.
“It means a lot,” Oshie told reporters, via The Associated Press. “Once you win one time, the regular season just doesn’t have as much meaning as the playoff games, so to get back there is going to be super special, and definitely won’t take it for granted. The boys will be ready to rock.”
Red Wings Out of the Playoffs in Heartbreaking Fashion
The Red Wings couldn’t have done more to try and get into the postseason.
Following four consecutive games won in either overtime or a shootout, they visited Montreal on Tuesday and once again defeated a team in extra time. The Wings came from behind and Perron scored the goal to send the game to overtime tied 4-4 with three seconds left in regulation.
Veteran Red Wings forward Patrick Kane would later score the game-winning goal in the shootout, though it was an anticlimactic, meaningless one as the Capitals had already wrapped up their victory against the Flyers and clinched a postseason berth.
“It’s crazy,” Perron told reporters after the game. “It stings a lot, obviously. You look at the clock, there’s seven seconds (remaining), and then scoring that goal. And then to come back to the bench you hear not too long after that obviously Philly is thinking that we’re losing that game, maybe, they pull their goalie, they do their thing and (Washington) scores.
“It hurts a lot.”
The Red Wings played their final game of the season on Tuesday and they finished this year with 11 more points than last season but still out of the playoffs for the eighth year running.
The 91 points and .555 PTS% are the highest marks Detroit has put up since they reached the playoffs for one last time in 2016 (93 points, .567 PTS%).
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