NHL Scores: Capitals are just about done; Blue Jackets lose late

The Capitals lost to a team that had just eight healthy forwards by the end of the night and the Columbus Blue Jackets gave away two points in the final seconds. Not the kind of performances you want to see with playoff spots on the line.

by Adam Gretz

Apr 5, 2014, 12:00 PM UTC

Bruce Bennett

Friday was a night of missed opportunities in the NHL playoff race.

Let's start with Columbus, which was just 20 seconds away from going to overtime against the Chicago Blackhawks and at the very least earning a point in the standings, before having their game disrupted by an officiating mistake that was originally going to penalize them for a too many men on the ice penalty until the referees changed their mind. That stoppage was still costly as Chicago scored off the ensuing faceoff when Ben Smith pounced on a loose puck in the crease with three seconds to play.

That loss, combined with New Jersey's win over the Washington Capitals, suddenly puts a ton of pressure on a Blue Jackets team that is now only one point ahead of Toronto (the Blue Jackets do own the tiebreaker there) and only three points ahead of a Devils team that has a pretty light schedule down the stretch with four out of their five games coming against non-playoff teams.

And then there are the Capitals. Oh, the Capitals. Facing a Devils team that finished the game with just eight healthy forwards and their season on the line, the Capitals came up short and managed to score just one goal, all but ending their playoff hopes. With just five games to play they are four points out of a playoff spot and have lost five in a row and six out of their past seven games.

The Coyotes joined the Blue Jackets and Capitals in the futility department when Thomas Greiss' third-period turnover led to a late game-tying goal and an eventual shootout loss against the Edmonton Oilers.

The Senators jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Montreal just six minutes into their game, and then gave up seven straight goals. It was a brutal night for them where they not only played poorly defensively, but also had some bad luck work against them in the form of one of the worst no-goal calls of the season.

All the NHL Scores

Canadiens 7, Senators 4

Blackhawks 4, Blue Jackets 3

Devils 2, Capitals 1

Red Wings 3, Sabres 2

Flames 2, Panthers 1

Predators 5, Ducks 2

Oilers 3, Coyotes 2

Three Things We Learned

1. Do the Devils still have a chance? Maybe a small one

If they had just won a couple of shootouts (they are 0-for-11 on the season) and gave Cory Schneider the bulk of the playing time over Martin Brodeur the New Jersey Devils would probably already be comfortably in the postsesaon. They did not do those things, and now they're left trying to scratch and claw their way back into a wild card spot. After Friday they are at least still in the race. Their win over Washington, combined with Columbus' loss to Chicago, brings New Jersey to within three points of the final wild card spot. The Devils have five games remaining and only one of them (their regular season finale at home against Boston) is against a playoff team. The other four are against Carolina, Calgary, Ottawa and the New York Islanders. The only problem is going to be whether or not they have enough healthy forwards to take advantage. Patrik Elias, Adam Henrique and Damien Brunner all had to leave their game on Friday, while Elias' injury was particularly scary when he was checked into the stanchion by Washington rookie Tom Wilson.

2. Just because you can come from behind, doesn’t mean you should do it every night

Entering play on Friday the Ducks had won two games in a row after trailing by at least two goals in the third period, erasing a 4-1 deficit against the Jets and then following it up with a 3-2 come-from-behind win against Edmonton. No matter how good a team is at coming from behind, sooner or later falling into those early deficits is going to hurt you. On Friday, it did. Jonas Hiller was pulled after giving up four goals on nine shots and putting the Ducks into a 4-1 hole in the first period that they were never able to climb out of.

3. The real winners were the teams that didn’t play

By having the night off, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Dallas Stars were big winners if for no other reason than they didn't have a chance to mess up their situations like Washington, Columbus and Phoenix did. The Stars are just one point behind the Coyotes with two games in hand, while the Maple Leafs have new life after the Blue Jackets let at least one point, and perhaps two, slip away against Chicago.

Impact Moment

The one play or moment from Friday that is going to be making headlines over the next couple of days.

P.K. Subban played just 37 seconds in the first period and was still on the ice for two goals against. He did not play in the final 15 minutes of the period and was clearly benched by Canadiens coach Michel Therrien. He did not take another shift until two minutes into the second period. It's not exactly a new thing for Therrien to sit Subban, the NHL's reigning Norris Trophy winner, for extended periods of time this season but this was probably the longest stretch that he kept Subban on the bench.

Stat of the Night

Max Pacioretty is currently one of the NHL's top goal-scorers and doesn't really get much attention for it. After his hat trick on Friday he is now up to 67 even-strength goals over the past three seasons, placing him fourth in the entire league behind only Steven Stamkos, Phil Kessel and Alex Ovechkin during that stretch. His 10 multiple-goal games this season are also tops in the entire league. Ovechkin is the only other player that has at least nine.