The Pittsburgh Penguins completed a double whammy yesterday, not only did they clinch a playoff spot for the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs as a result of their victory, they also clinched second place in the Metropolitan Division courtesy of the Philadelphia Flyers loss. That makes for the best of days.
What’s next for the Pens?
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They have to finish out the regular season with three more games – at home against Washington on Saturday, then a rematch against the Capitals in Washington on Sunday followed by a random enough trip to St. Louis on Tuesday for the final game of the season. The NHL playoffs begin in the days that follow, the Pens are expected to host Game 1 on either Saturday April 18 or Sunday April 19 depending on the league’s scheduling.
That leaves the next week to get ready, and it will be interesting to see how the team handles the build up period. You would think most, if not the full lineup star players will be playing tomorrow for the home finale (fan appreciation day, no less) and maybe try to get Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust to the 30-goal plateau as they share the ice with Alex Ovechkin one more time, and possibly for the last time pending Ovechkin’s summer decision on playing in the NHL next season or not. The added benefit would be a Penguin win over the Capitals tomorrow will more or less pull the plug on their season that’s already on life support – so what better way to end the lopsided Crosby/Ovechkin rivalry than ending his (potential) last season?
Beyond that, I wouldn’t expect too many star players to be taking the trip to St. Louis on Tuesday night. The NHL has call-up rules in place to limit the amount of talent that can come up from the AHL after the deadline, so it’s not like the Pens would be able to give everyone a night off, but there isn’t much reason for older/important players to not stay home and rest for an extra couple of days.
Then there is the potential opponents, let’s take a look as of today:
The Flyers remain in third place, but things have tightened up with their 6-3 loss to Detroit last night, coupled with the Islanders winning their first game with new coach Pete DeBoer. Columbus, sadly for them, looks like they have run out of gas following a 5-0 loss to Buffalo last night, spoiling a critical chance to get back in the running. With 29 regulation wins, NYI would hold the first tiebreaker over either team, should it come down to a tie after 82-games.
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So, as of now for the Penguins, it’s looking like Philadelphia or the NY Islanders. Things could change with a couple of losses by them combined with a couple of wins for CBJ or Washington but time is running critically low with all the teams only having three games remaining in the season. It’s difficult to make up many points in that limited an amount of opportunites.
Philadelphia plays at Winnipeg (just about toast for playoff odds, but scrappy winners of three-straight games) then ends the year with home games against Carolina (already clinched first place, nothing to play for) and Montreal (who might need to win that game to win their division and avoid a tough playoff matchup). Fairly manageable for the Flyers, though giving up six goals and losing to a struggling Detroit team shows that Philadelphia’s performances are variable.
The Islanders might be the true wild card team (not to be confused with competing for a Wild Card playoff spot) due to their coaching change throwing a big change into the proceedings. The change might have come a little too late to salvage the season, though understandably enough because it’s not like there’s a reason to make the change unless things are already going off the rails. NYI ends with a home afternoon game against Ottawa (who have been all over the map but are starting to look stable with a three-game winning streak) and then play Carolina (nothing to play for) and Montreal (potentially something to play for).
The key to everything could be tomorrow for PHI@WIN and OTT@NYI. The Islanders need some help from the Jets and even more importantly they need to take care of their business against a quality opponent. The Flyers are one point ahead but a tie in the standings is as good a win for the Islanders, can they make a move tomorrow or will the Flyers get a victory and stay controlling their own destiny? The season for those teams may well come down to the results of how it shakes out tomorrow, given that they both play CAR and MTL in the final two games.
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The season will not come down to the final games for the Penguins, though. They’ve taken care of their business and wrapped everything up a few games early. Now they can start to shift gears into planning for how to handle the meaningless games in the coming games and start to ramp up for whoever emerges from a pressure situation late in the year as their opponent in the first round of the playoffs.
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