ELMONT, N.Y. -- The Penguins will not be in the postseason for a second consecutive year.
The Penguins weren't in control of their destiny entering Game 82 of the season on Wednesday against the Islanders. They needed some help first on Tuesday in a pair of games around the league -- they needed the Red Wings to lose to the Canadiens, and they needed the Capitals to lose to the Flyers.
Neither game went their way.
The Capitals' 2-1 win over the Flyers eliminated the Penguins from contention. The Flyers needed a regulation win to keep their own hopes alive so they pulled their goaltender with three minutes remaining in a tie game in an attempt to avoid overtime. T.J. Oshie scored the game-winner for the Capitals into the empty net. The Red Wings later beat the Canadiens 5-4 in a shootout, but the Capitals had already secured the second wild card spot.
Wednesday's game against the Islanders will be meaningless for both teams, with the Penguins eliminated from playoff contention and the Islanders locked into the No. 3 seed in the Metropolitan Division. If the Penguins win the game, it will mean that they finished a single point shy of a playoff spot:
Jack St. Ivany, Ryan Shea, Radim Zohorna and Valtteri Puustinen are the only players eligible to be sent down to the AHL and join Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for its playoff run. That begins next week after the AHL's regular season wraps up this weekend.
Because the Penguins aren't in the playoffs, they are in the draft lottery, but not in the running for the first overall pick. All non-playoff teams are in the lottery, but teams can only move up a maximum of 10 spots -- that means only the bottom 11 teams are in the running for the first pick. If the 12th-16th teams "win" the lottery, they would only move up 10 spots from that position. The Penguins' first-round pick going to the Sharks in the Erik Karlsson trade is top-10 protected, so if the Penguins happen to "win" the lottery and move into the top 10, that would allow them to defer the traded pick to next season. But they wouldn't move up to first overall.
The Penguins have five pending unrestricted free agents from the NHL roster -- Jeff Carter, Alex Nedeljkovic, Jansen Harkins, Shea and Zohorna. The restricted free agents from the NHL roster are Emil Bemstrom, P.O Joseph, St. Ivany and Puustinen.
