{"id":580871,"date":"2026-04-13T03:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T03:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/580871\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T03:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T03:05:09","slug":"capitals-playoff-scenarios-with-1-game-left-here-are-their-only-paths-to-the-postseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/580871\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitals playoff scenarios with 1 game left: Here are their only paths to the postseason"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cockroach-caps-2.jpg\" class=\"above-the-fold wp-post-image\" alt=\"Cockroach Caps\"  decoding=\"async\"  fetchpriority=\"high\" loading=\"eager\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/russianmachineneverbreaks.com\/2026\/04\/05\/cockroach-capitals-playoff-hopes-sabres\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cockroach Caps!<\/a> (Photo:  <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/@erik_karits\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Erik Karits<\/a>\/<a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/a-large-brown-insect-sitting-on-top-of-a-rock-COYgM0WcBvQ\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Unsplash<\/a> and edits via RMNB)\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The Washington Capitals\u2019 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday was huge. With a regulation loss, they would have been <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MoneyPuckdotcom\/status\/2043345487017689538\" rel=\"nofollow\">eliminated from postseason contention<\/a>. Instead, the Cockroach Caps delivered a clutch 3-0 victory and stayed alive in their chase for the Metropolitan Division\u2019s third spot.<\/p>\n<p>Around the league, the Capitals also got big help from two Atlantic Division teams.<\/p>\n<p>The Montreal Canadiens defeated the New York Islanders 3-1 in regulation, eliminating the Isles from postseason contention.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The Columbus Blue Jackets fell to the Boston Bruins 3-2, allowing the Capitals to jump over them for fourth in the Metro.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The division standings look like this as of now.<\/p>\n<p>Metropolitan Division standings at the end of the night on April 12<br \/>\n<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-590162\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/metro-standings-041226.jpg\" alt=\"Metropolitan Division standings\" width=\"1342\" height=\"494\"  \/>Screenshot: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/standings\/2026-04-11\/wildcard\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NHL.com\/standings<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Philadelphia, which plays Carolina and Montreal on Monday and Tuesday, has one game in hand on the Capitals and Blue Jackets. <\/p>\n<p>M3 playoff scenarios<\/p>\n<p>If the Flyers record at least two standings points combined in their final two games, they will clinch a playoff spot.<br \/>\nIf the Capitals beat the Blue Jackets in any manner on Tuesday and the Flyers manage just one standings point in their final two games, the Capitals will make the playoffs because they hold the regulation wins tiebreaker.<br \/>\nIf Philadelphia loses both games in regulation and the Blue Jackets beat the Capitals in regulation, Columbus would make the playoffs because they hold the regulation wins tiebreaker over Philly.<br \/>\nIf Philadelphia loses both games in regulation and the Blue Jackets beat the Capitals in overtime or the shootout, the Capitals would make the playoffs because they hold the regulation wins tiebreaker over Philly and Columbus.<\/p>\n<p>So heading into Tuesday\u2019s Capitals-Blue Jackets game at Nationwide Arena, the only way that game will NOT matter is if Philadelphia beats the Hurricanes on Monday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena.<\/p>\n<p>MoneyPuck has the Capitals\u2019 playoff chances at 13.2 percent while the Flyers are now sitting at 80.5 percent.<\/p>\n<p>But, friends, they still have a chance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cockroach Caps! (Photo: Erik Karits\/Unsplash and edits via RMNB) The Washington Capitals\u2019 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-580871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}