Will they or won’t they? Whether they do or they don’t, here are a handful of numbers to ponder…
54.6 – Percentage chance the Caps have of making the playoffs with eight games to go, per MoneyPuck (it’s 49% at perennial Caps-undervaluer The Athletic). Of those eight games, only two are against teams that are out of the playoff hunt (Ottawa and Buffalo, whomst waxed the Caps last night), three are against playoff hopefuls in varying degrees (Pittsburgh, Detroit and Philly), and three are against teams ostensibly fighting for playoff positioning (Carolina, Boston and maybe Tampa, though the Bolts seem pretty locked into the first wild card spot, and Boston may not have anything left to play for in the season’s penultimate game).