Philadelphia Flyers clinch playoff spot, end Blue Jackets and Capitals hopes in shootout
Photo credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
The Philadelphia Flyers punched their ticket to the playoffs Sunday night, beating the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in a shootout and ending the postseason hopes of both the Columbus Blue Jackets and Washington Capitals in a single swing.
Columbus finished at 92 points with no games remaining. Washington sat at 93. Neither team had any runway left.
Philadelphia moved to 96 points with the win. That's the number that closed the door on both of them.
Rick Tocchet's group had already gone 7-3-0 in their last 10 going into tonight. Now they head to the playoffs with a shootout win over the hottest team in the Eastern Conference to close it out.
There's something almost poetic about the Flyers clinching against Carolina. They had lost all three previous meetings against the Hurricanes this season, going 0-3 with two of those falling in overtime or a shootout.
Tonight was different.
Trevor Zegras delivers in the clutch as Flyers seal East berth
Trevor Zegras tied the game in the second period with a power play goal, his 25th of the season, and then converted in the shootout to help force the decision. The 25-year-old has 66 points over 80 games this season.
Tyson Foerster scored the shootout winner. Foerster had been red-hot coming in with 6 goals in his last 10 games.
Carolina outshot Philadelphia 26-20 and won 66% of faceoffs. The Flyers did not care. They went 1-for-2 on the power play while Carolina converted their lone opportunity.
For Columbus, this is the sixth straight year missing the playoffs. Six. That number carries real weight in a league where even bad teams tend to turn things around in two or three seasons.
Rick Bowness took over behind the Columbus bench in January, but the team went just 2-7-1 over their last 10. There was no late surge.
Washington's situation stings differently. Spencer Carbery's Capitals went 7-3-0 in their last 10 and won three straight heading into tonight. They played themselves right to the edge of the bubble, then watched someone else pop it.
The 8 playoff teams in the East are now locked in. Carolina leads the Metropolitan at 111 points. Buffalo and Tampa Bay share top spot in the Atlantic at 106. Philadelphia took the third Metro seed at 96.
On the other side of that line, the Capitals and Blue Jackets are left watching. And the league moves on without them.
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