The Isles lost their share of the Met Division lead (and two players) in their 5-0 loss to Boston. Washington beat New Jersey, Carolina rallied for a shootout win over Pittsburgh (leaving both tied with the Isles with 38 ROW), Columbus lost to Calgary, and Montreal closed within a point of a playoff spot by beating Philadelphia.
So the standings through Tuesday's play looks like this:
Metro
Playoff Watch
1. Caps 93 points/73 games/39 ROW (Wednesday vs.
Tampa Bay, Friday vs. Minnesota)
2. Isles 91 points/73 games/38 ROW (Thursday at
Montreal, Saturday at Philadelphia)
3. Penguins 89 points/74 games/38 ROW (Thursday at
Nashville, Saturday at Dallas)
4. Hurricanes 87 points/72 games/38 ROW (Thursday vs
Tampa Bay, Saturday vs. Minnesota)
5. Blue Jackets 84 points/73 games/39 ROW
(Thursday at Edmonton, Sunday at Vancouver)
6. Flyers 78 points/73 games/33 ROW (Thursday at
Chicago, Saturday vs. Isles)
Also in Wild Card Race
Canadiens 83 points/73 games/36 ROW (Thursday vs.
Isles, Saturday vs. Buffalo)
The Blue Jackets currently hold the second Wild Card,
so five Metropolitan Division teams are currently in playoff spots.
Magic Numbers:
The Isles' Magic Number to clinch a playoff spot is 11. It could go as low as 7 (with a win vs. Montreal) on Thursday.
The Isles' Magic Number to clinch the Metropolitan
Division is 21. It could go as low as 17
by Thursday (with a Washington regulation loss to Tampa Bay on Wednesday and an
Islander regulation/overtime win vs. Montreal).
Goal Differential
With the Isles losing by five goals and the Caps
winning by three goals tonight, the Isles now have a +30 goal differential to
Washington’s +28. It is this tie-breaker that had the Isles in first place in
the Metro Division entering play on Tuesday.
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