Capitals claim final NHL playoff spot after desperate goalie elimination of Flyers late in tie

The Washington Capitals clinched the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference on Tuesday night thanks to an unusual set of circumstances.

On Tuesday, the Capitals held a lead over the Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers for the final NHL playoff spot. A win for Washington would have put them in. If they lost in regulation, overtime or the shootout, there would be hope for the teams chasing them.

The Flyers had the most unique path to keeping their hopes alive. They needed only to beat the Capitals in regulation time, plus the hope that the Red Wings and Penguins would also lose in overtime. If that had happened, Washington and Philadelphia would have been tied in the standings based on wins, points, regulation wins, and regulation and overtime wins. The only tiebreaker in their favor was head-to-head points.

With all this knowledge in mind, John Tortorella’s team needed to win in regulation time to have a chance at the play-offs.

That led to a scenario where the Flyers found themselves tied with the Capitals in the third period, knowing they had to prevent Washington from even getting any points from the game. With time running out, Tortorella pulled his goalie out for an extra attacker with three minutes left, leading to an empty-netter by TJ Oshie and a 2-1 victory for Washington.

“We’ll take it,” Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin said. “Thanks, Philly.”

That goal from Oshie not only put the Capitals in the playoffs, it also knocked the Flyers, Red Wings and Penguins out of contention.

What Tortorella didn’t know when he benched goalie Samuel Ersson was that the Flyers were already out of the game.

David Perron’s goal with 3.3 seconds left against the Montreal Canadiens gave the Red Wings at least a point, ending the Flyers’ playoff dreams. Detroit would go on to win in a shootout, but they were already eliminated by the Capitals’ victory.

The Capitals will now face the Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers in the first round, marking the sixth time the two teams have met in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2006.