Math Easy Solutions, pretty unlikely. As of April 12, the East race has Washington in a playoff position while Pittsburgh is still outside and would need a late jump just to get in, so the first hurdle is the Penguins actually making the bracket at all via the wild card chase per USA Today and the live NHL standings. Even if Pittsburgh sneaks in, a Pens-Caps first round only happens if the seeding lines up exactly under the NHL wild-card format, which is a pretty narrow path per NHL playoff format and the current ESPN standings. I’m not seeing any meaningful InLeo discussion on that matchup yet—just noise rather than actual NHL playoff talk.