How the NHL’s Eastern Conference Wild Card playoff race looks in final week of the season

Now in the final week of the 2023-24 NHL regular season, the Eastern Conference Wild Card race is shaping up to be a doozy. The Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers are tied with 87 points, and the Pittsburgh Penguins are one point behind.

The Caps, Red Wings and Penguins have two games remaining while the Flyers have just one. With the regular season ending on Thursday, the question becomes: who will hold the No. 2 Wild Card spot?

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss the final slate of games and who will end up playing hockey past April 18.

Tyler Yaremchuk: It was a wild weekend in the Wild Card race around the NHL, so let’s jump into it. The New York Islanders pushed themselves right to the brink of clinching a playoff spot, and with 90 points on the season, one more point in their final two games and they are in.

The Washington Capitals also did themselves a solid, picking up a week on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and now sit at 87 points. They’re tied with the Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers, but they hold the tiebreaker over both those teams.

Do you think those are the two teams that will get the job done?

Frank Seravalli: I don’t know. I wish I could answer that, because it’s been so upside down through the year. Could you imagine the theatre if the Caps, Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins lose, setting up a Flyers-Caps win-and-your-in game? That would be epic, but a lot needs to happen to get to that point.

If you were to ask me point blank who is getting in, my pick would be the Caps. The math is not necessarily in their favor, but there’s something about that team that when you look at how they’ve played in the second half, they have the most mojo. I don’t know, it just feels like the Red Wings have teetered on disaster for weeks now.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…