By grinding out a win, the Detroit Red Wings briefly stepped back into playoff position in the East.
As it turns out, that amounted to keeping someone else’s seat warm, as the Philadelphia Flyers gutted out a tough win of their own to maintain their control over the East’s final wild card spot.
Let’s look at the wild card race now:
Wild card 1: Islanders - 87 points, 35 ROW, 72 games played
Wild card 2: Flyers - 85 points, 34 ROW, 73 GP
Outside
Red Wings - 85 points, 35 ROW, 74 GP
(The Devils are at 79 points and the Hurricanes are at 78, in case they have a shot.)
Philly showed some moxie in winning this game despite being behind late, and Steve Mason’s shaking off talk of getting a little breather.
Whatafinish for the Flyers but Mason may be hurt, 4-2
— Tim Panaccio (@tpanotchRET) March 25, 2016
tfw you walk in the locker room and Mason says "I'm ok boys" pic.twitter.com/Tb2T7oBnvt
— LetsGoFlyers (@LetsGoFlyera) March 25, 2016
Looking forward, the Flyers might just root for the Penguins against the Red Wings on Saturday, while both teams must circle and underline this date:
Wed. April 6: Flyers at Red Wings
At the moment, each team is putting itself in a position to keep its “destiny in its own hands.”