New Jersey Devils
Role Player
Weekly Metropolitan Division Snapshot: 4/6/2025 - 4/12/2025
Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...first-devils-third-canes-in-flyers-eliminated
The Caps remain at the top, even for this sourpuss of a Capitals fan. | Photo by Katherine Gawlik/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
In the twenty-third weekly Metropolitan Division snapshot of the 2024-25 season, Carolina clinched a playoff spot, Philadelphia got eliminated, the Devils are on the verge of clinching, and Pittsburgh simply would not tank. Learn about what happened last week and what’s next in this post.
We are coming to the end of the 2024-25 regular season. This is the penultimate weekly Metropolitan Division snapshot for this campaign. The picture is almost complete. The Carolina Hurricanes joined the Washington Capitals in clinching a playoff spot in this past week. The New Jersey Devils have all but clinched one themselves. The Pittsburgh Penguins have all but been mathematically eliminated. Not that you would know that from the Penguins’ play as of late. The Philadelphia Flyers have been mathematically eliminated as of Saturday night. The wild card in the Eastern Conference has one real opening - Ottawa has the other - and given Montreal’s hot streak, that may be closing fast. Which is bad news for the New York Rangers, Columbus Blue Jackets, the New York Islanders, and Detroit. Not that they helped their own causes all that much. (Well, Detroit did.) Clarity may not be asked for but it will come with two weeks left in this season. Here is how the division looks as of this morning.
Standings via NHL.com, Playoff odds via Moneypuck, First overall draft pick odds via Tankathon/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25941902/04_06_2025_Division_Snapshot.PNG "Metropolitan Division Standings as of the morning of April 06, 2025 with Wild Card Watch")
Metropolitan Division Standings as of the morning of April 06, 2025 with Wild Card Watch
I hope you like games within the Metropolitan Division. All eight teams have at least one to play and all but two days in the week has at least one. As ever, those games are in bold and highlighted. The two games between Columbus and Ottawa are in italics even if the Sens are not really a “watch” team for the wild card and are more of a “locked” for the wild card.
Schedules via NHL.com/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25941654/04_06_2025_Division_Schedule.PNG "Metropolitan Division Schedule for April 06, 2025 through April 12, 2025 with Wild Card Watch teams")
Metropolitan Division Schedule for April 06, 2025 through April 12, 2025 with Wild Card Watch teams
Here is the week that was and week that will be for all eight teams.
Washington Capitals
Sunday vs. Buffalo - First in the East hosted Last in the East. But no one told these Sabres to lie down and die. No, they shocked D.C. with a spirited performance in a high-scoring game. The first period had just 2 goals. Jakob Chychrun opened the scoring past midway through the first. A Rasmus Sandin boarding call yielded a Tage Thompson power play goal to tie it up shortly after. The second period had 4 goals. Ryan McLeod put the Caps down 1 with an early goal. No matter, Chychrun responded on the next shift to tie it up. A few minutes later, Alex Tuch tipped in a Connor Clifton shot to make it 3-2. Several minutes later, Sam Lafferty backhanded in a 4-2 score. Where was Washington’s response? In the third period, that had 7 total goals. Aliaksei Protas scored shorthanded within the first minute to put the Caps within a goal. Thompson scored on that power play (a double minor on Pierre-Luc Dubois) to put the Caps down 5-3. Jack Quinn made it 6-3 minutes later. The PutinTeam Leader tipped in a Sandin shot to make it 6-4. A Beck Malenstyn tripping call yielded a PPG for Dubois to put the Caps within one once more. Buffalo avoided that fate when Tuch tipped in a second goal of the day to make it 7-5. Washington’s loss was secured when Peyton Krebs put in an empty netter. An 8-5 loss to Buffalo may be a cause for concern, Capitals.
Tuesday at Boston - The Capitals shipped up to Boston to end a slide. They would do so. In the first period, a pair of penalties helped the Capitals go up 2. Dylan McIlrath was in the box for cross checking. Nic Dowd scored shorthanded. Before that call ended, David Pastrnak took a hooking call. After McIlrath served his penalty, the Putinist put in a PPG for 2-0. Boston would claw their way back in the second period. Vinni Letteri made it a one shot game over 6 minutes into the period. Late in the second, a Chychrun holding call was punished by Pastrnak to make it 2-2. Washington would respond in the third period. Dylan Strome broke the tie past halfway and Tom Wilson added an insurance goal over four minutes later. It would be needed as Pastrnak scored shortly after Wilson’s score. Washington would hold on to get a 4-3 win. They ended their slide while Boston’s free fall continues.
Wednesday at Carolina - It was a big-time matchup with little stakes for Washington beyond wanting to see what the Capitals could do in Raleigh. They showed that they could take a beating. Carolina went up 3-0 in the first period. Sean Walker opened the scoring, and a pair of power play goals ran up the score. Jackson Blake punished Lars Eller’s interference penalty and Seth Jarvis punished a delay of game call on Rasmus Sandin. The Capitals were dug in deeper in the second period by Logan Stankoven. Their one glimmer of hope was when Putin’s Favorite converted a power play late in the period. Down 4-1, though, a comeback was unlikely. And it was. Blake extended the score with a second PPG of the game that punished a Jakob Chychrun slash. Washington may have got mad but they did not get close to winning the hockey game. They suffered a 5-1 loss.
Friday vs. Chicago - The Capitals needed a win to avoid losing the week. The media has been all focused on the Putinist’s drive to beat Wayne Gretzky’s career regular season NHL goals record. The Blackhawks are playing for lottery balls. Everyone got what they wanted on Friday night. The PutinTeam Leader opened the scoring to put himself one behind Gretzky’s 894 early in the first. Tyler Bertuzzi tied it up later on to give the game some tension. Tension that ramped up when Frank Nazar III made it 2-1 for Chicago 31 seconds into the second period. Martin Fehervary tied it up for the Capitals later on - which lasted all of 10 seconds. Philipp Kurashev scored right after Fehervary’s goal to make it 3-2 for the visitors. The score held until nearly four minutes into the third period. Something wacky happened. During a power play from a Pat Maroon tripping penalty, Dylan Strome fired a shot. It off the skate of Connor Murphy to go in. Still counted, 3-3. A little later, Connor Bedard held up Ryan Leonard. This was punished by the PutinTeam Leader and #894 was achieved to put the Caps up 4-3. The historic goal also held up as the game winning goal, bucking a trend of #8’s milestones coming in Washington losses. Leonard scored his first NHL goal with an empty netter to seal up the 5-3 win. Washington split the week, their star nearly has his desired record, and there are games left to play to prepare for the playoffs.
What’s Coming Up in This Week: The Capitals will play within the division for this and next week. They can have a say in the deeper parts of the wild card race. Washington visits the Islanders on Sunday afternoon. Then they will get a shot at revenge against the Hurricanes as they host them on Thursday night. On Saturday afternoon, they begin a home-and-home weekend set with Columbus. This Saturday’s game will be on national television. Attention will be all about when the Putinist scores his next goal. The real issue is that the Capitals just have to get into good form. Thursday’s rematch against Carolina may be telling.
Carolina Hurricanes
Sunday vs. New York Islanders - The Hurricanes had a chance at earning an X, or clinching a playoff spot, if they won and Montreal lost. The latter didn’t happen but the Hurricanes held off an increasingly desperate Isles team. Carolina struck first and second with a quick pair of goals from Mark Janikowski and Logan Stankoven. The Isles responded later in the first period with a score from Pierre Engvall and a PPG from Kyle Palmieri. Engvall broke the tie for the Isles early in the second. Carolina would restore the tie near midway with a power play goal by Sebastian Aho. Late in the period, Seth Jarvis scored shorthanded to put the Canes up one. The Isles equalized early in the third with a goal by Anders Lee. Carolina went up again about five minutes later thanks to Dmitry Orlov. Any late drama was dashed when Jarvis scored within the final 3 minutes. Carolina prevailed 6-4. Clinching would have to wait another night.
Wednesday vs. Washington - Any point earned on Wednesday night for Carolina would secure them the vaunted ‘X’ for clinching the playoffs. They understood the assignment when they hosted the Washington Capitals. They put a hurting on them. Sean Walker opened the scoring over six minutes into the game. A Lars Eller interference penalty was punished by Jackson Blake minutes later. Minutes after that, Seth Jarvis punished a Rasmus Sandin delay of game penalty. Carolina never stopped in the second period. Logan Stankoven made it 4-0 close to halfway through. A Brent Burns penalty yielded a goal for the Putinist within the final minute of the second period. It was a consolation PPG. Blake punished a Jakob Chychrun slash on Jarvis in the third. The Caps got mad but they didn’t get anywhere close to reducing the four goal deficit. Carolina clinched the playoffs and did it with a decisive 5-1 win.
Friday at Detroit - Detroit had it all to play for and the Hurricanes found that out the hard way on Friday night. The Red Wings went up first and second with two goals 26 seconds apart at the nine minute mark in the first period. Ben Chiarot with a clapper was followed by Marco Kasper with a backhander. Carolina got the score back on track with an early second period goal by Jackson Blake. Then the Red Wings scored 21 seconds apart at the nine minute mark in the second period. Yes, really. Patrick Kane got a snapper in and Michael Rasmussen beat Pytor Kochetkov again. The Canes cut the deficit to two with a goal from Eric Robinson. But it took another period for Carolina to make it a one-shot game thanks to Brent Burns. Yet, that one shot would not come. Cam Talbot ensured that if it did, it would be stopped. The game was ended with a last second ENG from Alex DeBrincat. The Hurricanes lost 5-3 to a Detroit team that badly needed the win. Still got their ‘X’ so it is no big deal.
Saturday at Boston - The Hurricanes went up to Boston and got absolutely waxed. Wait, what? The team who was winless in their last 10 games beat Carolina by how much? Four? The B’s put the Canes down 2-0 by the first intermission with a quick double within the final 1:11. Morgan Geekie scored first and then Elias Lindholm made it 2-0 with 13 seconds left. Over halfway through the second, David Pastrnak scored to make it 3-0. Pastrnak made it a brace 88 seconds into the third period. He completed his natural hat trick with fewer than five minutes left for a 5-0 score. The Canes avoided the shutout loss to Jeremy Swayman with a last-minute consolation goal by Justin Robidas. So they lost 5-1. Which is still rather ugly. Carolina, what was that? The Canes end their week at 2-2-0. They did get their ‘X’ but being on the edge of a losing streak this close to the end of the season is a little worrisome. If it is any comfort, the win did not keep the Bruins from being mathematically eliminated with Montreal winning their game on Saturday night.
What’s Coming Up in This Week: Carolina will play three games over five days with the last one starting a weekend back-to-back. They will be on the road for the first two games: Tuesday night in Buffalo and Thursday night in Washington D.C. The former is a trap game and the latter is a chance to really make another statement on the division’s top team. On Saturday, they will return home to host a potentially desperate Rangers team for an afternoon game on national television. The Canes just have to maintain good form. That would start by getting a win in Buffalo.
New Jersey Devils
Monday vs. Minnesota - The Devils ended their month with a rematch against Minnesota in Newark. This one would be closer. The Devils struck first with Luke Hughes ripping a shot past Jonas Gustavsson in the first period. The 1-0 score held up until the third period. A long shot from Middleton was tipped in by Hinastroza to tie it up. Brett Pesce almost answered back on the next shift when a shot popped up and rolled down Gustavsson’s back. While his butt and glove were in the net, officials couldn’t confirm the puck was over the line. The Devils did answer back a bit later when Nico Hischier one-touched a pass in for 2-1. Then disaster hit the Devils within the final minutes. Brenden Dillon turned the puck over behind his net. The puck hit off Marcus Foligno’s skates and fell right to Matt Boldy all alone in front. 2-2 and overtime was needed. It was thought that Paul Cotter won it with a one timer. But the Devils were offside after review. OT continued and was not decided. In the shootout, it was straight forward. Cotter and Jesper Bratt scored. Mats Zuccarello and Matt Boldy did not. The 2-0 shootout gave the Devils a 3-2 win in the shootout.
Saturday vs. New York Rangers - The New Jersey Devils enjoyed a break in the schedule before taking their hated rivals on national television on Saturday afternoon. This was apparent as the Devils skated the Rangers off the rink in the first period. Not that the Devils put a lot together, but they pushed the tempo early and often against a Rangers team not as desperate as you would expect. The Rangers would play much better in the second period, but the Devils went up after Jacob Markstrom kept it at 0-0. Just past midway through the second, Sam Carrick clobbered Stefan Noesen in front of the New York net without the puck. It took just four seconds for Timo Meier to slam in a power play goal to open the scoring. Dawson Mercer took an ill-advised tripping penalty on the next shift. But not only did the Rangers not convert on the power play, Brenden Dillon sprung a 2-on-1 for Nico Hischier to Jesper Bratt. The passes went in that order and Bratt made it 2-0. The Rangers sagged a bit with an inconsistent offense. They ran up shots but could not beat Markstrom. Meier put in a killer goal from a cross-ice feed from Seamus Casey; the puck slid under Igor Shesterkin’s skate just over the line with just over five minutes left. Peter Laviolette pulled the goalie for six skaters. It ended with Jesper Bratt getting blocked on an empty net try and Nico Hischier cleaning it up for a 4-0 score. It is always great to beat a rival. The victory was sweet for the Devils. It was also sweet for Tampa Bay, who clinched a playoff spot with this result. It was positive for Montreal, Columbus, the Islanders, and Detroit. Going back to the Devils, they also won their week at 2-0-0 and enter this one coming up with three straight wins. And if results go their way by this coming Tuesday night (Tampa Bay wins on Monday), they could be playing for an ‘X’ against Boston. Awesome.
What’s Coming Up in This Week: The Devils will have another light week coming up with just two home games to play. Both are against teams with nothing to really play for too. They will host Boston on Tuesday and Pittsburgh on Friday. The goal for the Devils is to get more wins to enter the final week with some kind of heat as well as completely lock up a playoff spot. Those who want a four-game winning streak may get it on Tuesday. Let us hope.
New York Rangers
Wednesday vs. Minnesota - This was a must win game for both sides. The nerves were on display as the goals mounted. It started with an Alexis Lafreniere penalty in the first period. That yielded a PPG for Gustav Nyquist. Braden Schneider tied it up minutes later. But the Wild answered back with a strike by Brock Faber with 5 minutes left in the first. The Rangers flipped things in the second period. K’Andre Miller tied it up early and Chris Kreider put the Rangers up a score close to five minutes later. Minnesota tied it up with a shorty by Marcus Johansson. The score held until the final minute of the second. Artemi Panarin went off on a breakaway and scored to make it a 4-3 game to start in the third. It would not take long for Minnesota to respond. Marco Rossi tied it up at 4-4 just 22 seconds into the third period. The scoring stopped and overtime would be needed. It was short. Vincent Trocheck earned New York a needed second point when he one-touched a feed from Panarin just 24 seconds into OT. The Rangers prevailed 5-4 and they remain right with Montreal for the last playoff spot in the East. Columbus, Detroit, and the Islanders did not like this result.
Saturday at New Jersey - The hated rivalry was a crucial date for the Rangers. They need every point. They went out there on a cold, rainy afternoon in Newark and did not get it done. They came out flat in the first period. An 11-4 shot count was corrected down to 7-4 but one cannot ignore how the Devils were a crossbar and Shesterkin’s saves away from a hole. The Rangers came out better in the second period. Only to discover how good Jacob Markstrom was going to be that day. The goals would come against them. It took just four seconds from a Sam Carrick interference call for Timo Meier to blast in a PPG for a 1-0 deficit. The Rangers got a break when Dawson Mercer tripped Alexis Lafrerniere on the next shift (and on the forecheck). Yet, this yielded a second goal against: Brenden Dillon sprung Nico Hischier for a 2-on-1 and Hischier set up Jesper Bratt for the shorthanded goal against. The Rangers sagged their way to the third period. There, they would attack more but the Devils kept them honest with zone time and attempts. It was not like Markstrom was going to give up much - and he did not. The Devils would get a killer insurance goal when Meier buried a cross-ice feed from Seamus Casey. Igor Shesterkin got a piece of it but the puck slid over the line for the goal. Peter Laviolette pulled Sherskterin early for an extra skater. It ended with Vincent Trocheck denying Bratt an empty net goal only for Hischier to slam the loose puck in for the ENG instead. Just over a minute after Meier’s goal too. The Rangers conceded from that point. They lost 4-0. A brutal result because it is a rivalry loss. And, more relevant to their playoff chances, they needed help to avoid falling behind. While Columbus failed to prevail, Montreal beat Philly so the Rangers are now four points back. The Rangers split the week at a point where that is not good enough.
What’s Coming Up in This Week: The Rangers will be very busy in this week coming up with four games in six nights to play. They need as many points as they can get. The opponents, on paper, will not make it easy. They will host a very good Tampa Bay team on Monday night. The Rangers will host Philadelphia on Wednesday and their hated rivals in the Islanders in Long Island on Thursday. That is a tricky back-to-back as the Flyers can and have upset teams and the Isles remain a wild card. New York’s week ends in Raleigh, North Carolina for a Saturday afternoon game on national television. All the while, they will be paying very close attention to what Montreal, Columbus, Detroit, and the Islanders do in their games. It remains a stressful time in Manhattan.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Tuesday vs. Nashville - Columbus brought the offense in a you-better-win game against Nashville. Kirill Marchenko scored over a minute in. A quick double by Adam Fantilli and a PPG by Sean Monahan made it 3-0. Filip Forsberg got Nashville on the board on the shift after Monahan’s goal. Marchenko opened a second period filled with goals to make it 4-1. Nashville clawed their way back to a one-shot game with Michael Bunting and Jakub Vrana each scoring within a minute. Fantilli dashed any hopes of a Predator comeback when he made it 5-3 with eight minutes left in the second. Monahan punished a Forsberg slash to make it 6-3. Dante Fabbro scored with 19 seconds left to make it 7-3 going into the third. Marchenko completed his hat trick for 8-3. A goal by Jordan Oesterle was just for consolation. The Blue Jackets won big time, 8-4, to stay relevant in the wild card race.
Thursday vs. Colorado - The Blue Jackets are capable of lighting teams up. What about an opponent who can bring a frightful amount of offense? The Avalanche, well, avalanched the Blue Jackets in Ohio on Thursday night. It was not immediate. Colorado did go up in the first period. Nathan MacKinnon opened the scoring. Sean Monahan scored minutes later, only for Brock Nelson to break the tie with fewer than two minutes left in the first. In the second period, Columbus hit back with a pair of goals. Zach Aston-Reese and Boone Jenner flipped the score to make it 3-2 by the halfway mark. Then came the goal-storm from Colorado. Charlie Coyle tied it up at 12:39. Parker Kelly made it 4-3 at 14:02. A slashing penalty called on Aston-Reese was punished by Cale Makar at the 19:22 mark for a 5-3 score. After an intermission, two more goals: Devon Toews at 4:01 and Miles Wood at 5:49. The Blue Jackets were wrecked in the second half of this game and lost big-time, 7-3. Trying to get a result against the Avs is challenging enough. But at least try not to get routed.
Saturday at Toronto - Columbus surely had to know that the Rangers lost before stepping on the ice in Toronto. They had a real chance to move on up. They blew it. The Maple Leafs showed no mercy. Nick Robertson put the Blue Jackets down one halfway through the first period. He put them down two over twelve minutes into the second period. Then William Nylander took over for scoring. He scored over a minute into the third and then again over four minutes into the third. Auston Matthews decided to join in late in the third. Where was Columbus in all of this? Not putting any of their 27 shots on net past Anthony Stolarz. And not helping Elvis Merzlikins enough. And certainly not helping their own playoff cause with a 5-0 defeat in Toronto. The Blue Jackets lost the week by going 1-2-0 and remain behind the Rangers. Worse, Montreal won and that is the team they needed to lose today. Their playoff hopes are fading fast.
What’s Coming Up in This Week: The Blue Jackets have four games to play and will need as many points as they can possibly get. They will finish their weekend in Ottawa to take on the Senators in an evening game. Then the Blue Jackets will host Ottawa on Tuesday night. Thursday night will have some potential respite - or a massive trap - when they host Buffalo. Their week ends with a tougher game against Washington on Saturday afternoon. It has to happen this way if it happens at all, Columbus. Go forth.
New York Islanders
Sunday at Carolina - The Islanders need a win for their playoff hopes. They would not get one in Raleigh. Carolina struck first and second with a quick pair of goals from Mark Janikowski and Logan Stankoven. The Isles responded later in the first period with a score from Pierre Engvall and a PPG from Kyle Palmieri. Engvall broke the tie for the Isles early in the second. Carolina would restore the tie near midway with a power play goal by Sebastian Aho. Late in the period, Seth Jarvis scored shorthanded to put the Canes up one. The Isles equalized early in the third with a goal by Anders Lee. Carolina went up again about five minutes later thanks to Dmitry Orlov. Any late drama was dashed when Jarvis scored within the final 3 minutes. Carolina prevailed 6-4. Another winless game for the Isles, who really cannot afford much more of this losing.
Tuesday vs. Tampa Bay - Once again: the Islanders need a win for their playoff hopes. They would not get one in Belmont. Not even with the idea of revenge on their mind. The first period ended even. Oliver Bjorkstrand tipped in a Darren Raddysh shot for a score, but Bo Horvat tied it up with a shorty a little later. However, the game got away from the Isles in the second period. Jake Guentzel and Victor Hedman each scored just over two minutes apart to make it 3-1. The Islanders could not respond. A Nick Paul empty netter sealed up a 4-1 loss for the Isles. This loss combined with results from Columbus, their hated rivals, and Montreal further reduced the Isles’ chances at crashing the wild card picture.
Friday vs. Minnesota - Once more: the Islanders need a win for their playoff hopes. Sliding into seven straight winless games will not get it done. The Islanders...did it. They won. And they did it against a Wild team that may have just realized that they need to sort their own stuff out to avoid a drastic fall. The Wild did strike first with an early second period goal from Mats Zuccarello. The Isles responded when Casey Cizikas tipped in a Noah Dobson shot. Simon Holmstrom took the lead less than two minutes later for a 2-1. That held up. In the third period, Yakov Trenin high-sticked Ryan Pulock. Dobson punished that with a slapshot power play goal for 3-1. The insurance goal made it less tense and the Islanders did not blow the third period lead. They won. Their slide ended. They are still way behind in the wild card picture. They still lost the week by going 1-2-0. While the Rangers and Blue Jackets failed to pull ahead, Montreal (and Detroit!) did. Any postseason dreams could be over real soon, Islanders fans.
What’s Coming Up in This Week: The Islander playoff dream is still hanging by a thread. And they have this slate of games to try to pull themselves up. They will host Washington today on national television in an afternoon game. Then the Isles will go to Nashville to get two points from them. After that is a return to Belmont to host their hated rivals in what could be a must-win game for either team. The Islanders’ week will end in Philadelphia for a Saturday afternoon game that begins a weekend back-to-back set. Good job on winning a game. But if you do not win more, Islanders, it may be curtains.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Sunday vs. Ottawa - Pittsburgh vs Ottawa - Regulation ended up being a showcase for Tristan Jarry of the Penguins and Anton Forsberg of the Senators. Neither goalie would budge for sixty minutes. They were perfect in all three periods, stopping all pucks that came their way. A rare 0-0 score at the end of regulation forced overtime. One problem: Just after a 4v4 situation ended before the end of the third period, Ridley Grieg hooked Sidney Crosby. That meant Pittsburgh began overtime with that power play. Pittsburgh would make it count. Who else but Crosby would end it? His one timer from Erik Karlsson gave Pittsburgh the 1-0 win. Unfortunately for the wild card picture, Ottawa got a point and are all but secure in the first spot. Pittsburgh does not care.
Thursday at St. Louis - St. Louis has been the hottest team in the NHL with 10 straight wins going into Thursday’s game against Pittsburgh. The Pens, of all teams, made the Blues sweat in this one. They started off well with an early goal by Bryan Rust. The Blues hit back hard in the second. Jake Neighbours tied up the game 39 seconds in. While Connor Dewar scored in fewer than four minutes later, Pavel Buchnevich tied it up again over two minutes after Dewar’s goal. Jordan Kyrou made it 3-2 at the 8:05 mark, or fewer than two minutes after Buchnevich’s goal. It seemed like the Blues would run away with the game after Neighbours scored close to six minutes into the third period at 4-2. But the Penguins had other ideas. First, Justin Faulk held up Ville Koivunen for a penalty. Second, Rickard Rakell made it a one-shot game with a power play goal. The score stood until there was 1:54 left. Third, Pittsburgh pulled their goalie. Fourth, they attacked. It worked. With 25 seconds left, Rutger McGroarty scored his first NHL goal to tie it up and force overtime. In overtime, Kris Letang slashed Kyrou. The Penguins won the draw to start the penalty kill, and the Blues power play were held without a shot - until Kyrou set up Robert Thomas in the right circle. Thomas took a touch and blasted one in for St. Louis’ eleventh straight win. The Penguins lost 5-4, earning an unnecessary point while also failing to cool off the league’s hottest team. Good job?
Saturday at Dallas - The Penguins went to Dallas on Saturday afternoon and decided to disregard the idea of tanking once again. The Stars seemingly disregarded the idea of defense since the Penguins dropped 40 shots on the Stars in their building. The Penguins opened the scoring with Sidney Crosby punishing a Mason Marchment tripping call. This was equalized by Evgenii Dadonov past halfway through the first. Dadonov struck again over two minutes past halfway through the second period. He scored a PPG to punish a Kris Letang holding call. Then the third period began and the Penguins popped off. Crosby tied up the game 20 seconds into the period. Dadonov held off the Pens with a backhander for a hat trick and a 3-2 lead. Pittsburgh was far from done. Crosby set up Bryan Rust with over 11 minutes left in regulation to tie it up at 3-3. The game dragged until the final two minutes. That was when Thomas Harley ran into Cody Ceci on the break out. Danton Heinen took the puck, fed Blake Lizotte, and Lizotte scored to make it 4-3. Crosby secured a hat trick of his own and a four-goal third period with an empty netter. A stunning win for the Penguins! They won 5-3 to go 2-0-1 in the week. Tank? What’s a tank?
What’s Coming Up in This Week: The Penguins are heading towards a playoff-less end. They seem uninterested in gaining more lottery balls. They will take on Chicago twice in this week coming up. They have a game this evening in Chicago and the rematch is in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. After two days off, they will head to Newark to play a Devils team that will be going to the playoffs. The Penguins clearly mean it when they say they are playing for pride. For better or worse. They may still get mathematically eliminated in this week depending on how the results work out.
Philadelphia Flyers
Monday vs. Nashville - Philly has decided tanking is for suckers and have continued to win. It was a low scoring affair against Nashville, but they got the result. All of the goals happened in the second period. Ryan Poehling opened it by tipping in a Travis Konecny feed before halfway through the second. Over 4 minutes later, Zachary L’Heureux tied it up. On the next shift, Matvei Michkov set up Jamie Drysdale to make it 2-1. Ivan Fedotov stopped everything from then on to preserve the score. The 2-1 win would be Philly’s third straight victory.
Saturday at Montreal - A lot of teams outside of Philadelphia became temporary Flyers fans for this evening. Specifically in Manhattan, Belmont, Detroit, and Columbus. They were all disappointed. The Canadiens went into this one with three straight wins like the Flyers. But the Flyers fell apart late. They did go up first with Ryan Poehling scoring over four minutes into the game. Philadelphia maintained the score all the way to the third period. Montreal decided they had enough. Brendan Gallagher beat Sam Ersson to tie it up at 1:24. At 2:40, Lane Hutson scored a beauty to make it 2-1. The Flyers got a power play close to midway through the third period when Juraj Slafkovsky boarded Sean Couturier. Not only did they not punish the penalty, but they conceded. Nick Suzuki picked up a cleared puck out of no-man’s land for Ersson. He wheeled around to the slot and hammered a shot off the post and in for a shorthanded goal. A backbreaker for the Flyers. Or was it? Michael Matheson cleared a puck over the glass with fewer than two minutes to go. Tyson Foerster would punish that to make it 3-2 with 40 seconds left. Would the Flyers stun the Canadiens to go to OT? No. They would not. The Flyers’ winning streak ended with a 3-2 loss. Montreal gained two huge points. For the Flyers, they split the week and remain in eighth.
However, the other results in the league on Saturday night worked out that it is now official. The Philadelphia Flyers have been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. The most they can earn is 81 points - and Montreal has 83. They get an ‘E’ for this reality.
What’s Coming Up in This Week: Philadelphia will play just two games in their penultimate week of this season. Both could impact the wild card race. They can play spoilers in both. The Flyers will visit the New York Rangers on Wednesday night. On Saturday afternoon, the Flyers begin a weekend back-to-back by hosting the Islanders. The Flyers seemingly want to go out with dignity. They could get some by beating both - which is entirely possible. They got nothing else to play for anyhow.
That was the twenty-third and penultimate weekly Metropolitan Division snapshot for this season. Next week is the last one for 2024-25. Now that you know what happened and what will happen next, it is now your turn. Will Washington and Carolina have better weeks? Can the Devils get the ‘X’ in this week coming up? Is the second wild card spot all for Montreal, and if not, who among the Rangers, Islanders, Blue Jackets, and Red Wings will rise up? Can someone tell the Penguins that these points do not help them? Will Philly spoil the New York teams in this week coming up? Please leave your answers and other thoughts about the week that was for all eight teams in the division and the week ahead for them. Thank you for reading.
Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2...first-devils-third-canes-in-flyers-eliminated
