from Alex Prewitt of Capitals Insider,

With 57 games left in the 2014-15 regular season, their first under Trotz, the Capitals are tied for third in the Metropolitan Division with 26 points. They are on pace for 85 points, or to finish the season with slightly more than one point each game. Fortunately for them, their top-heavy division is the only one without at least three 30-point squads.

“If you can get in the top three in your division, you’re in [the playoffs], no matter what your record is,” Trotz said. “We’ve got to play at probably about a 100-point pace from now until the end of the season to be in the mix. We need to rattle off the wins, there’s no question. There should be some urgency in your group.”

To play at 100-point pace the rest of the way would give them 95.5 points, and the last Eastern Conference team to miss the playoffs with 90 points was Carolina in 2010-11. That said, their current rate likely won’t cut it, unless the Metropolitan Division continues to struggle; an 80-point Eastern Conference team hasn’t made the playoffs since Philadelphia and Montreal finished with 88 in 2009-10, the same year Washington buried its Southeast Division beneath a league-leading 121 points.

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