Penguins face crucial 2-game set in Washington, depending on how you define 'crucial'

The Penguins are in Washington Thursday and Saturday for a crucial two-game series against the Washington Capitals.

Well, that depends on how “crucial” we should consider winning the East Division. What might be more important is who finishes fourth rather than first.

That probably sounds entirely backward to you but hang with me for a minute.

As of Thursday morning, the Capitals lead the East with 68 points. The Penguins have 67, good for sole possession of second place. The New York Islanders are third with 63 and the Bruins are fourth with 62.

If Boston should remain in fourth place, they would draw the regular-season winner of the division in the first round of the playoffs. Right now, the Bruins have a winning record this season against both the Penguins (5-3) and the Capitals (4-1-2).

Meanwhile, if the current bracket holds, the team that loses out on the division crown between the Pens and Caps would fall to second place and face the New York Islanders. Washington is fresh off a three-game sweep against the Isles, beating them six of eight times this year.

The Penguins are also 6-2 against the Islanders.

From that perspective, it almost looks as if it might be better for the Penguins or Capitals to finish second and avoid the Bruins.

It also reinforces a point I’ve been making since this all-division-play NHL schedule was announced. The East is so tightly aligned, regular-season seeding won’t matter in the playoffs. Just qualify as one of the top 4 and take your chances

On the other hand, though, the Bruins have just won seven of nine games overall. The Islanders have lost five of their last seven. So Boston is trending upward toward (at minimum) third place. And the Islanders may slip into the fourth and final playoff spot.

Therefore, grabbing the top seed in the East would be important if the Penguins or Capitals would prefer to face an Islanders team that is struggling lately, appears to be missing team captain Anders Lee, and has performed poorly against both teams.

Not to mention the New York Rangers who are currently lurking in fifth place (58 points), just four points behind Boston for the final playoff spot. Like the Bruins, they’ve won seven times in their last nine tries.

That said, all of those victories came against the New Jersey Devils, Buffalo Sabres and Philadelphia Flyers. They are the bottom three teams in the division.

The Rangers went 4-2 against the Capitals this year but just 2-4-2 against the Penguins. Again, more incentive for the Penguins to finish first, if you discount that 8-4 clunker of a loss the Pens endured at Madison Square Garden back on April 6.

And maybe we shouldn’t.

TribLive Penguins beat writer Seth Rorabaugh joins me for his weekly hockey podcast appearance. We’ll break down all of the postseason possibilities in the East. We’ll also talk about how the Capitals have managed to stay afloat without an injured Alexander Ovechkin over the last two games, his status, Evgeni Malkin’s looming return, and the influence of numerous ex-Penguins on the current Caps roster.