Philadelphia Flyers Beat Washington Capitals in Shootout, Eliminating Canada From Post Season

The Philadelphia Flyers beat the visiting Washington Capitals 2-1 in a shootout on March 30th. The loss didn’t significantly affect Washington, which has already locked up home ice throughout the playoffs, but the improving Flyers did move into what would be the final playoff slot in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of the Detroit Red Wings.

The win not only moved the Flyers, at least temporarily, into a playoff berth, it also eliminated the Ottawa Senators from the playoffs. That means that there will be no Canadian teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since the 1969-70 season, as Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Edmonton had been eliminated earlier. All except Toronto and Edmonton were in the playoffs last season, with Montreal and Calgary reaching the conference semi finals.

Montreal’s fall was particularly steep. The Canadiens won the Atlantic Division with 110 points last season; this year they are in sixth place with 76 points and five games left in the regular season. Montreal opened the season with nine straight victories, and things were looking good. But injuries to All-Universe goalie Carey Price have limited him to just 12 games, and it certainly showed. The collapse included a 1-11 streak back in December .