Our beloved Caps controlled their own playoff seeding destiny and all they had to do was beat the Islanders and they would be playing the Rangers in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
But with their loss to the Islanders their playoff matchup now lies in the hands of those losers in Pittsburg.
On Friday night the Caps head to the big apple to face off against the Rangers while the Pens faceoff against the Columbus Blue Jackets. As I am typing this the Pens who currently have the third spot in the Metro Division stand at 101 points and our Caps who sit in the second wild card spot have 100 points.
So where does this leave us?! Well the only way the Capitals will pass the Pens for third is if they beat the Rangers and the Pens lose in regulation. In the case of a tiebreaker between the Caps and Pens the Penguins would win that tiebreaker based on their head to head matchup.
During the regular season the Caps where 1-1-1 against Florida and were outscored by them 13-12. As for the Rangers they were 1-1 with the Caps getting the edge in goals 6-5 with todays game still to be played.
Tonight will be the big determine factor who the Caps play in the first round so we will just have to sit back and wait and see!
In my opinion, its a toss up who I’d want to face because both teams are well rounded teams, but for the Rangers yes they have the better goalie right not BUT Igor Shesterkin has played ZERO playoff games and who knows if that playoff atmosphere will be to much to handle for him that remains to be seen.
As for the Panthers they have Sergei Bobrovsky in net which he doesn’t have the great playoff reputation but they do have Spencer Knight waiting in the wing.
So based on goalies alone I think I’d want to play the Rangers in that If Shesterkin crumbles and has to be pulled they are screwed in that their backup Alexandar Georgiev is straight butt cheeks!
The Morning Skate 