The Washington Capitals are officially the first team in the NHL to clinch a playoff spot this season.
The Caps had three possible clinching scenarios coming into Tuesday’s matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers, and they met the first half of one after securing a 3-2 regulation win. The second half was met when the Montreal Canadiens forced overtime against the New York Islanders.
The Capitals getting in the dance first comes just one year after being the very last team to do so. Washington needed all 82 games of the 2023-24 campaign and a random TJ Oshie empty-net goal, also against the Flyers, to secure a first-round series with the New York Rangers, which they lost in four games.
Per NHL PR, this year’s Caps are the first team since 1979-80 to go from being the last team to clinch a playoff spot in one season to the first team to do so the next season. The 1979-80 season was the first in league history to feature 16 teams in the playoffs.
The Capitals’ postseason appearance marks the 34th in franchise history and their 16th since Alex Ovechkin’s debut season in 2005-06, tying the Caps with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the most among all teams during that span.
With the two points, the Capitals also hit the 100-point mark in a season for the 14th time and the first since 2021-22. Per the team, they matched the 2009-10 Capitals as the second-fastest teams in franchise history to get to 100 standings points, both doing it in 69 games. The 2015-16 Capitals are the fastest, reaching the century mark in just 65 games.
If the season were to end tonight, the Caps would be faced with a 2010 first-round rematch against the Montreal Canadiens. Despite falling in overtime to the Islanders, the Habs still occupy the second wild card playoff position in the Eastern Conference.