Eh maybe. I think last night’s game was pretty much a guaranteed loss, the Canes were off for a few days while the Caps were playing back to back. Tarik called that sort of game a “scheduled loss” in a talk we went to last year.

I also think the players are being distracted by the chase. There are a few times every game where it seems the players try to get the puck to Ovi instead of shooting it. It’s one thing to do that when the team is up by 4 goals or something, but it’s a lot more problematic when it’s tied or worse.