Alex Ovechkin rubs salt in the wounds of Red Wings and Flyers

The nightmare scenario for both the Detroit Red Wings and the Philadelphia Flyers came to fruition last night. 

As you know, the Flyers had to defeat the Washington Capitals in regulation in order to keep their playoff hopes alive; anything less would have knocked them out of playoff contention. Meanwhile, the Red Wings needed the Flyers to defeat the Capitals in any fashion.

Not only did the Flyers have a first period goal disallowed in extremely controversial fashion, but they also found themselves tied with Washington with under four minutes left in regulation. That set up the dreaded scenario of head coach John Tortorella deciding to pull the goaltender in a last-ditch effort to net the go-ahead goal. 

And as it turned out, that's what happened. And it was T.J. Oshie who scored on the vacated net, proving to be the game-winning goal for the Capitals to propel them to the 2nd Wild Card spot in the East and eliminating both the Flyers and Red Wings from any chance at the postseason. 

For Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, who will get at least one more chance in his career to play for the Stanley Cup, he had the following to say about the situation: 

"Detroit get a point and they still pull the goalie," he said. "They didn't know that. But we'll take it. Thanks, Philly."

What is especially frustrating for fans of both the Red Wings and Flyers (and Penguins, who were also knocked out of playoff contention) is that the Capitals have a -37 goal differential, the worst for a playoff team in several decades. 

But unfortunately, that's just how the cookie crumbled.

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