Buckle up, hockey fans. You’re going to want to tune into the Philadelphia Flyers’ final game of the regular season against the Washington Capitals, because the only way for the Flyers to make the playoffs as an East Wild Card is … nuts.
There’s one Wild Card spot left in the conference, with the Flyers behind the Caps, Red Wings and Penguins.
For the Capitals, a win would be huge. The Red Wings need to win and the Capitals need to lose. The Penguins need to root for the Wings and Capitals to lose to have a shot.
And the Flyers? Watch this:
- They need to win against the Capitals but ONLY in regulation.
- The Red Wings and Penguins ALSO need to lose in regulation to give the Capitals, Wings and Flyers 89 points.
- If that all happens, Washington and Philadelphia would be tied in regulation wins, regulation + overtime wins and wins overall.
- The next tiebreaker would be head-to-head points, and the win would get them the edge over the Caps.
So you might get this situation:
Craziest possible scenario tonight: Flyers must win in regulation to have a chance. Any kind of win by Capitals puts them in playoffs. What happens if game is tied late in third period? Flyers have to pull goalie, don’t they? Risking Capitals clinching on empty-netter.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) April 16, 2024
Interesting twist for Capitals-Flyers tomorrow is that the Flyers need a regulation win to have a chance to make the playoffs. If Capitals get one point, Flyers finish behind them.
So, if game is tied late in regulation, the Flyers would have to pull the goalie to try to win
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) April 16, 2024
WHEW!