NHL Picks: Flyers sneak past Capitals to tighten grip on playoff spot – CBSSports.com
Welcome to NHL Picks where CBSSports.com hockey writers Chris Peters and Adam Gretz make their predictions for all of the day’s games.
Washington Capitals at Philadelphia Flyers, 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN
Every time they hit the ice, the Philadelphia Flyers are playing for their playoff lives. Currently tied with the Detroit Red Wings with 87 points with one game in hand, the Flyers have a hold on the last wild card spot for now. If that position holds to the end of the regular season, they’d meet the Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs.
While Wednesday night could be a preview of that potential first-round matchup, the Flyers also have a shot at surpassing the New York Islanders for the top wild card spot. The Isles are ahead of Philadelphia by just two points. New York still has a game in hand, so that battle could come down to the wire. The Flyers and Islanders will play each other on the last day of the regular season.
It’s still hard to believe that the Flyers managed to claw their way back into this position. Staying there is still going to be tough, especially with the way their schedule sets up, but they’ve been playing well enough to get the job done.
On Tuesday they’ll have an opponent across the ice that has little to play for as the regular season winds down. The Capitals have already clinched the Presidents’ Trophy and home ice throughout the playoffs. Beyond possibly trying to get Braden Holtby the NHL’s single-season wins record – he’s two away from tying Martin Brodeur’s 48 right now – the rest of this season is about staying healthy and not developing any bad habits or complacency heading into the postseason.
This will be the fourth and final meeting between the two clubs in the regular season. The Caps have won two of the previous three matchups. If there’s a potential playoff date looming, there’s not much need for the Caps to show anything new or different and that may help favor the Flyers a little bit.
Philadelphia will turn back to Steve Mason who is about to make his seventh consecutive start in net. All of those starts have come over an 11-day span. It’s an arduous workload for the Flyers starter, necessitated by the injury to Michal Neuvirth and the importance of the remaining games for Philadelphia.
The team just signed journyman backup and former Flyer Ray Emery to a tryout deal to help bring some depth to the position, but they’ll keep top goalie prospect Anthony Stolarz as the No. 2 netminder in Neuvirth’s absence. With the importance of these games, it will be difficult to getStolarz, who has never played a minute of NHL hockey outside of the preseason, a start.
Mason has been doing the job, though. Over his 11 total starts in March, however, the veteran netminder has been at his best with a .929 save percentage. If they get in, they’re going to owe a lot to Mason for taking on the workload he’s had and excelling under that pressure.
Despite Mason’s success, the Flyers have gone 3-2-1 over their last six games and all of them have been close. These are the tense moments of a playoff race and even with the Caps not having much to play for, it’s not going to be a cake walk. After Wednesday night’s game, four of the Flyers remaining six games will be against teams at least playing for seeding, including their closest competitors, the Red Wings and Islanders.
Given the opportunity afforded the Flyers by the Red Wings losing a tough game to the Canadiens Tuesday night, this is one they have to take advantage of. The chance to get some breathing room in the wild card race and to get a win over a potential playoff opponent should be pretty powerful motivators. Look for the Flyers to nab another win to earn a season series split with the Capitals and move three points ahead of the Red Wings with a win Wednesday. Pick: Flyers 3, Capitals 2
The rest of Wednesday’s pick
Steve Mason has been awfully busy lately. (USATSI)
