PHILADELPHIA — For the Washington Capitals, it all came down to Game 82. Six-plus months of wins, losses, triumph and pain, with the team at times looking like a surefire playoff squad and at others appearing in line for another top-10 draft pick, boiled down to the final game.
The last time Washington’s postseason fate was determined in the 82nd game of the season was in 2008, the first time the Capitals made the Stanley Cup playoffs in the Alex Ovechkin era. Ten years later, they were champions for the first time. Six years after that, trying to make the playoffs — and give the core of this veteran team what might be its final appearance in the postseason — Washington faced a must-win matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center.
