Islanders, Capitals log key wins in Eastern Conference playoff race

The New York Islanders and Washington Capitals are up and the Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers are down after Tuesday night's action in the NHL Eastern Conference playoff race.

Those teams along with the Pittsburgh Penguins are within four points of each other as they battle for two playoff spots with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season. All but Detroit could either capture the playoff position for third place in the Metropolitan Division or the second wild-card spot. The Red Wings, who are in the Atlantic Division, can only get into the Stanley Cup Playoffs via the wild-card spot.

But Washington made that more difficult with a 2-1 win at Detroit's Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday to break a six-game losing streak (0-4-2). That moved the Capitals past the Red Wings and into the second wild-card position with 85 points. Detroit, which has 84 points, is now 10th in the Eastern Conference. Pittsburgh also has 84 points but is in ninth place on the strength of the first tiebreaker, regulation wins. The Penguins have 31 and the Red Wings 27. They will meet in Pittsburgh on Thursday night.

Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 42 saves and was robbed of the shutout when Detroit's Patrick Kane scored with less than two seconds left. The Capitals scored twice in the final 2:13 of the second period. 

Alex Ovechkin got his 30th goal of the season with eight seconds remaining in the middle period to make it 2-0. It was Ovechkin's record-setting 18th 30-goal campaign. He had been tied at 17 with Mike Gartner.

The goal also gave Ovechkin 852 for his career, 42 behind all-time goal leader Wayne Gretzky, who has 894.

Washington, Detroit and Pittsburgh all have four games remaining.

The New York Islanders solidified their third-place standing in the Metropolitan Division with a 4-2 home win over the archrival New York Rangers at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y. The Islanders scored three goals in the first period. They have 87 points and four games left.

Philadelphia took a 9-3 drubbing from the Montreal Canadiens at the Belle Centre in Montreal for the Flyers eighth consecutive loss. In 11th place with 83 points and only three games remaining, Philadelphia is all but out of the playoff picture.