Preview: Washington Capitals Can Lock Up Second Wild Card With Win Over Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday

Photo: DeadSpin

The Washington Capitals can clinch the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with any kind of win over the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday (7 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network in-market, EPSN+ out-of-market) in both teams’ regular-season finale. Washington has earned three of a possible four points against Philadelphia this season, including a 5-2 win in the District on March 1.

Schedule

Washington: finishes set of back-to-backs after a 2-0 win over Boston Bruins on Monday, stretch where they play three games in four nights to close out regular season

Philadelphia: completes two-game homestand following a 1-0 victory over New Jersey Devils on Saturday

How Each Team Is Doing

Washington: has won three of their last four since snapping six-game winless streak (0-4-2)

Philadelphia: has outscored New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils by a combined score of 5-1 in their last two following an eight-game losing streak (0-6-2)

Standings

Washington: 39-31-11 (.539 points percentage — fourth in Metropolitan Division, tied for eighth in Eastern Conference with Detroit Red Wings, who also completes the regular season at the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday); one point ahead of Pittsburgh Penguins (play regular-season finale on Wednesday vs. New York Islanders), two in front of Philadelphia in Eastern Conference wild-card race

Philadelphia: 38-32-11 (.537 points percentage — sixth in Metropolitan Division, 11th in Eastern Conference); second wild-card will face Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers in first round of Stanley Cup Playoffs

Team Leaders

Neither team has a player in the top-23 in goals league-wide, 56 in assists, nor 54 in points. Carlson leads the NHL in time-on-ice while Sanheim ranks 21st.

Team Statistics

Both teams rank among the NHL’s bottom-eight in goals and are around the league average in goals-against. Philadelphia has the worst power play but fourth-best penalty kill. The Flyers are also tied with the Colorado Avalanche for the fourth-most shots and behind only the Carolina Hurricanes (25.6) in shots-against. Meanwhile, Washington leads just the San Jose Sharks (25.3) and Chicago Blackhawks (26.5) in shots and the Arizona Coyotes (45.2%) and Buffalo Sabres (45%) in faceoffs.

Philadelphia’s Corsi is the eighth-best and expected goals is the seventh but they are 27th in shooting percentage and dead last in team save percentage.

Expected Goalie Matchup

Lindgren has better numbers than Ersson in every category but is expected to start his second game in as many days. Though, he faced just 16 shots against Boston.

Injuries/Illnesses

Washington

• • D Ethan Bear (NHLPA players assistance program)
  • C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
  • D Rasmus Sandin (upper-body)
  • D Nick Jensen (upper-body)

Philadelphia

• • G Carter Hart (personal)
  • D Rasmus Ristolainen (upper-body)

Projected Lines

Washington

Ovechkin — Connor McMichael — T.J. Oshie
Aliaksei Protas – Strome – Tom Wilson
Max Pacioretty — Hendrix Lapierre — Sonny Milano
Beck Malenstyn — Nic Dowd — Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Martin Fehervary — Carlson
Alexander Alexeyev — Dylan McIlrath
Trevor Van Riemsdyk – Vincent Iorio

Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper

Scratched: RW Ivan Miroshnichenko, C Mike Sgarbossa, D Lucas Johansen

Philadelphia

Tyson Foerster — Ryan Poehling — Konecny
Owen Tippett – Morgan Frost – Bobby Brink
Noah Cates — Sean Couturier — Garnet Hathaway
Joel Farabee — Scott Laughton — Cam Atkinson

Cam York — Sanheim
Nick Seeler — Jamie Drysdale
Egor Zamula – Erik Johnson

Ersson
Ivan Fedotov

Scratched: LW Nicolas Deslauriers, RW Ollie Lycksell, LW Denis Gurianov, D Marc Staal, D Ronnie Attard, C Ryan Johansen, D Adam Ginning

Betting Odds (BetMGM)

Washington: +125, Philadelphia: -150

Over-under: 5.5 (-120 over, +100 under)

By Harrison Brown