NEW YORK (AP) — Rick Tocchet understood the stakes, so the Philadelphia coach didn't want to make his players nervous before stepping onto the ice.
“They know,” Tocchet said. “They see the standings.”
The standings in the Eastern Conference look a lot different than they did in late March. For one thing, Tocchet's Flyers have crashed the party and are in a playoff spot for the first time since Jan. 12.
Way ahead of them, the Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh
Penguins and Montreal Canadiens have solidified their positions, while the Detroit Red Wings have dropped from what was once a comfortable lead to the outside looking in. Things went so sideways for the New York Islanders that they fired coach Patrick Roy, and the Washington Capitals look to be running out of time to give Alex Ovechkin possibly one more postseason appearance at age 40.
"It’s just frustrating," Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said after an 8-1 loss at the New York Rangers. “It’s frustrating because we fought as hard as we have to get back into this spot where we’re within striking distance.”
Before play began on March 26, only four points separated the Canadiens (88), Columbus Blue Jackets (87), Penguins and Bruins (86), Ottawa Senators and Islanders (86) and Red Wings (84). With the Flyers all the way back at 80, it looked like seven teams vying for five spots.
Montreal reeled off six consecutive victories and clinched Sunday before its eight-game winning streak that began March 21 came to an end at night. Pittsburgh won five of seven, and Boston went 4-2-1 to erase any doubt of postseason hockey in those markets this spring.
“With where the league’s at, our division, there’s pressure every night on every team,” said Canadiens winger Cole Caufield, who's on the verge of being the franchise's first 50-goal scorer since 1990. "That’s what makes this thing so fun. It’s just the guys in this group, in this room that are pushing each other and the staff that we have is unreal. We’re just going to keep this thing going.”
Philadelphia beating the Bruins in overtime Sunday on top prospect Porter Martone's first NHL goal leapfrogged the Flyers over the Islanders into third place in the Metropolitan Division. Long before Martone arrived following the completion of his college season at Michigan State, the Flyers were 13th out of 16 teams in the East out of the Olympic break and have since won 14 of 21 games to burst into contention.
“These past 10 or so games, they’ve been playoff games and we’ve been playing the right way,” forward Noah Cates said. "It’s been the simple things, the little things that just kind of get us over the hump and in the win column.”
Detroit led the Atlantic Division and was tied for the most points in the East on Jan. 15. The cushion ahead of the conference's ninth-placed team was 12 points.
After falling behind by three goals, rallying to tie it and losing 5-4 in regulation to Minnesota on Sunday, the Red Wings have gone 8-9-3 since that point and sit two points out with five games left to play.
“Obviously, we would have loved to be in a playoff spot, but that’s not the case,” forward Lucas Raymond said after a dud of a 4-1 loss at the Rangers on Saturday. “We’ve got a great opportunity here. We’ve got these games left here to really do something special with this team. The faith is high in here. We have a lot of faith in ourselves, in our team, so it’s just about going out there and getting it done.”
Raymond and his teammates have failed to score in the first period in 43 of 77 games, the most in the league.
“I wish I had the answer,” coach Todd McLellan said. “We can get out of the gate quicker: don’t dip our toe in the water.”
Columbus made a coaching change from Dean Evason to Rick Bowness in mid-January and won 19 of 27 games to surge to second in the division. The Blue Jackets have lost seven in a row since.
Since March 18 when it looked like they'd cruise into the playoffs in Matthew Schaefer's magical rookie year, the Islanders have lost seven of 10 games, including four in a row. First-year general manager Mathieu Darche dismissed Roy and hired Peter DeBoer on Sunday with four games left, hoping the new-coach bump could get his team in.
The Capitals are not contemplating any such change with Carbery, the reigning Jack Adams Award winner who should see them through the post-Ovechkin transition, whenever that is. Veteran defenseman John Carlson and depth center Nic Dowd got traded at the deadline with a youth movement afoot, but going 8-3-2 from March 9 through Saturday made the playoffs seem possible.
Getting blown out by the already-eliminated Rangers unearthed some of the defensive issues Carbery thought were there for the past dozen games or so that were covered up by strong goaltending, outscoring the problems and getting lucky. Washington needs a lot of that, plus some help, now three points out with four games remaining.
“It’s tough we put ourselves in this spot,” forward Aliaksei Protas said. “But those big games, I feel like they can really show who we are as a team and where we’re at as a team.”
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AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
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