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The Skinny: Rangers 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny" By Eric Hornick Game 68 Rangers 5, Isles 2 Johnny Brodzinski broke a 2-2 tie with 4:59 left in the middle period and ...

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

The Skinny on the Metro Playoff Race

The Isles lost their share of the Met Division lead (and two players) in their 5-0 loss to Boston.  Washington beat New Jersey, Carolina rallied for a shootout win over Pittsburgh (leaving both tied with the Isles with 38 ROW), Columbus lost to Calgary, and Montreal closed within a point of a playoff spot by beating Philadelphia.
So the standings through Tuesday's play looks like this:

Metro Playoff Watch
1. Caps 93 points/73 games/39 ROW (Wednesday vs. Tampa Bay, Friday vs. Minnesota)
2. Isles 91 points/73 games/38 ROW (Thursday at Montreal, Saturday at Philadelphia)
3. Penguins 89 points/74 games/38 ROW (Thursday at Nashville, Saturday at Dallas)
4. Hurricanes 87 points/72 games/38 ROW (Thursday vs Tampa Bay, Saturday vs. Minnesota)
5. Blue Jackets 84 points/73 games/39 ROW (Thursday at Edmonton, Sunday at Vancouver)
6. Flyers 78 points/73 games/33 ROW (Thursday at Chicago, Saturday vs. Isles)

Also in Wild Card Race
Canadiens 83 points/73 games/36 ROW (Thursday vs. Isles, Saturday vs. Buffalo)

The Blue Jackets currently hold the second Wild Card, so five Metropolitan Division teams are currently in playoff spots.

Magic Numbers:
The Isles' Magic Number to clinch a playoff spot is 11.  It could go as low as 7 (with a win vs. Montreal) on Thursday.

The Isles' Magic Number to clinch the Metropolitan Division is 21.  It could go as low as 17 by Thursday (with a Washington regulation loss to Tampa Bay on Wednesday and an Islander regulation/overtime win vs. Montreal).

Goal Differential
With the Isles losing by five goals and the Caps winning by three goals tonight, the Isles now have a +30 goal differential to Washington’s +28. It is this tie-breaker that had the Isles in first place in the Metro Division entering play on Tuesday.

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