Washington Capitals playoff picture: How does 6-0 drubbing of Penguins improve Ovechkin and co's postseason odds?

By Cole Shelton

Modified Mar 08, 2024 18:24 GMT

The Washington Capitals scored a massive 6-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on the road on Thursday. Washington is in a fight for a playoff spot, and the win was massive to keep their slim playoff chances alive. It was also important because Pittsburgh is also fighting for a playoff spot.

“Overall, just a huge response from Sunday’s Arizona game,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery, via the team website. “Being able to come in here on the road – and we lost some players this week, some guys that we consider part of the family – and even today with Kuemps being sick and Chucky gets called into action.

"Just another example of these guys pulling together in a difficult situation, losing some players, goaltender steps up and an incredible performance tonight from our entire group.”

Although the win was good for Washington, their playoff chances are slim.

Are the Washington Capitals in a playoff spot?

The Washington Capitals are currently not in a playoff spot. Washington is five points back of a wild-card spot and seven points back of the Philadelphia Flyers for third in the Metro division. Yet, having only 21 games left this season, it's unlikely they will make the playoffs.

MoneyPuck is giving the Capitals just a 9.8% chance of making the playoffs, which does seem right.

Washington itself seems to think they won't make the playoffs as the Capitals were sellers at the trade deadline. They traded defenseman Joel Edmundson to the Toronto Maple Leafs and forward Evgeny Kuznetsov to the Carolina Hurricanes.

So, unless Washington goes on some crazy win streak it's highly unlikely the team will be in the playoffs this season. If they do miss, it would be the second straight season they have done so. All they can do is take it one game at a time and up next for the team is the Chicago Blackhawks.

This feels like a very winnable game as Chicago is amid a bad season. Washington's path gets trickier from there, with games against the Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers, Seattle Kraken and Vancouver Canucks presenting a threat.