The Hockey News provides up-to-the-second updates as the Capitals take on the Flyers in the last game of the regular season for a playoff spot.
The Washington Capitals played for all the marbles on Tuesday, and they delivered with a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
D.C. is back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Hockey News provides a play-by-play recap:
Third Period
0:00 — The Captials secure a 2-1 win and will be back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
3:00 — T.J. Oshie hits the empty net as Samuel Ersson gets pulled. Capitals lead 2-1.
4:35 — TV timeout and Capitals and Flyers still tied 1-1.
6:01 — Getting down to the wire, and have to imagine that John Tortorella pulls the goaltender soon.
9:00 — Capitals and Flyers are still tied 1-1.
20:00 – Third period is underway.
Second Period
0:00 — After 40, Capitals and Flyers tied 1-1 after Erik Johnson's game-tying goal. Shots are 15-12 in favor of Philadelphia.
2:10 — Charlie Lindgren robs Travis Konecny with the left pad to keep this game tied late in the second.
7:31 — Erik Johnson tips a point shot past Charlie Lindgren. This game is tied 1-1.
9:54 — Capitals still lead 1-0 halfway through the second. Shots are 1-1 in this second frame, a game of patience. Garnet Hathaway is trying to spark the Flyers and getting a bit gritty — no pun intended.
20:00 — We're back for the second period. Capitals lead the Flyers 1-0.
First Period
0:00 — After 20, Capitals lead the Flyers 1-0 on a goal from Ovechkin, his 31st of the season and 853rd of his career. Shots are tied 7-7.
1:52 — Alex Ovechkin deflects a puck in front and past Samuel Ersson. Capitals lead 1-0.
8:57 — Capitals with a successful PK. Charlie Lindgren with some big stops.
10:57 — Capitals to the PK. Tom Wilson for tripping.
11:30 — Beck Malenstyn with a huge block shot and is in visible discomfort and pain after his shift. Stays on the bench for now.
11:43 — Officials deny the Flyers of a potential game-opening goal. The puck went off Charlie Lindgren and then came back down and bounced in past Lindgren off Joel Farabee's glove. Whistle blew play dead before it crossed the line, though, and it wasn't a continuous shot, so no goal. Still tied.
13:08 — Charlie Lindgren with a nice glove save. Capitals with a strong start to this one.
19:45 — T.J. Oshie hits the post.
20:00 — The puck is dropped, and Capitals-Flyers is underway.
Pregame
6:40 — Beck Malenstyn is in, and the Capitals are set to take on the Flyers with the same lineup, down to goaltender Charlie Lindgren:
Alex Ovechkin-Connor McMichael-T.J. Oshie
Aliaksei Protas-Dylan Strome-Tom Wilson
Max Pacioretty-Hendrix Lapierre-Sonny Milano
Beck Malenstyn-Nic Dowd-Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Martin Fehervary-John Carlson
Alex Alexeyev-Dylan McIlrath
Trevor van Riemsdyk-Vincent Iorio
Charlie Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper
Head coach Spencer Carbery said it wasn't too difficult of a decision given the circumstances and Lindgren's play all season long, especially in this critical final stretch.
"I would just say this: We came to the same conclusion that we have over the last four, five games when our season's been sort of on the brink, is Chucky has been arguably our most valuable player," Carbery said. "He's the reason we're in the spot we are or a large reason why we're in this spot. So for us and the way he's played, he's earned this opportunity to play in the last game of the season where our chips are in the middle of the table."
Washington Capitals Playoff Scenarios
The Capitals will clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a win in any fashion over the Flyers.
Washington will stay alive if it suffers an overtime or shootout loss, but the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins both have to lose their next games for D.C. to make it.
The Capitals are eliminated from playoff contention if they fall to the Flyers in regulation.
How To Watch Capitals vs. Flyers
The game will be live on Monumental Sports Network.
Fans can also tune in on Caps Radio 24/7 and 106.7 FM The Fan.