The National Hockey League playoff field is set.
The Washington Capitals beat the Philadelphia Flyers in a wild finish on Tuesday night to clinch the 16th and final playoff spot. Three teams — the Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Detroit Red Wings — were all playing simultaneously Tuesday night and had their fate hanging in the balance of the outcome of the Flyers-Capitals game. Only one of the three teams would advance to the quest for the Stanley Cup.
The minute-by-minute countdown of how the Eastern Conference’s eighth seed was decided made for an exhilarating finish to hockey’s regular season.
According to NHL Public Relations, here’s how it went down:
9:33 p.m. ET – Trailing 4-3 and needing at least a point to stay in playoff contention, the Red Wings tied the game with five seconds remaining in the third period in Montreal.
9:34 p.m. ET – Tied at 1-1 and needing a regulation win to stay in playoff contention, the Flyers pull their goaltender with 3:11 remaining in the third period in Philadelphia.
9:34 p.m. ET – Detroit secures at least one point, staying in contention if Washington does not earn a point.
9:35 p.m. ET – Washington scores a go-ahead goal with 3:00 remaining in the third period in Philadelphia.
9:35 p.m. ET – Philadelphia pulls its goaltender once again in an effort to secure a regulation win.
9:44 p.m. ET – Washington secures a 2-1 regulation victory to clinch the 16th and final playoff spot.
9:48 p.m. ET – Detroit secures a shootout victory in Montreal, their second third-period comeback win in as many days against the Canadiens, but by that time had already been eliminated from playoff contention.
The Capitals (40-31-11) and Red Wings (41-32-9) finished tied with 91 points apiece in the standings, but Washington held the tiebreaker to claim the final playoff berth.
Detroit extended its streak of consecutive seasons missing the postseason to eight, the longest in the NHL.
Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images
“I was the most excited I’ve ever been in my life for about a quarter second when we scored in the shootout,” Red Wings goaltender James Reimer told the Detroit Free-Press. “Then I saw none of the guys were excited, and I knew what our fate was.”
The Capitals got the playoff spot over the Red Wings because of the regulation wins tiebreaker. Washington had 32 regulation wins, compared to 27 for Detroit.
The Penguins are in the rare position of enjoying a second consecutive early summer. Pittsburgh had not missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons since 2003-04 and 2005-06. There was no 2004-05 season because of an NHL-imposed lockout.
The NHL regular season concludes Thursday.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.