It certainly doesn't work that way, and that's part of what makes hockey, well, hockey. Sometimes the puck finds the back of the net, and sometimes a goaltender makes a highlight reel save. Sometimes one team dominates but the other takes advantage of an opportunity, numbers and trends and statistics be damned.
"Those are tough ways to lose," Brind'Amour said on Monday morning. "It's how we lost when we felt like we could have won. That's where it's tough. We have to park it. We've moved on already."
Between Games 3 and 4, the Canes and Predators played 191:04 worth of hockey, equivalent to three regulation games and half of another period.
Brett Pesce played 79:43 of that 191:04. Brady Skjei played 77:01.
"I'm feeling fine. We work hard throughout the season for these kinds of moments," Skjei said on Monday. "I've been sleeping great and doing a good job with the trainers recovering, and I think all the guys have. We feel good."
The first day of the traditional workweek served as a natural reset button for the Canes. Come to the rink. Digest video. Continued recovery for those who played on Sunday afternoon, on-ice work for those who didn't.
And the mood? The mood was upbeat and positive, even after two draining losses in Nashville.
"I thought I was going to have to pick the pieces up a little bit today, and I didn't. I think it was actually the other way around," Brind'Amour said. "It's a tough way to lose when you give everything like that. The guys felt like, man, the ice was tilted in our favor, but it just didn't work out. But you have to move on. Whether we won the game or lost, it doesn't really matter. We've done this all year. Focus on the day you have. Try to make that your best day. Win that day."
Reset. Refocus. This First Round series started 0-0, and after the home team won each of its first two games, it's essentially a new series, a best-of-seven turned best-of-three. And even though the last two games didn't go their way, the Canes remain trusting in their process.
"It's 2-2, and the series is basically starting over. It's not, 'Oh, the world is caving in,'" Brind'Amour said. "It's about reenergizing and getting excited about the opportunity we have sitting in front of us."
The Canes know they'll get an emotional boost from 12,000 strong inside PNC Arena for Game 5.
"I have no doubt the Caniacs are sitting back home biting their fingernails getting ready to tear the roof off that place," Jordan Martinook
said after Game 4
. "We know what PNC can do. I can't wait to get back in front of them and get them juicing us up."
The Canes might also get a boost to their lineup if Jaccob Slavin, who has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury, gives the thumbs up to draw back in.
"I'm hopeful he'll try tomorrow," Brind'Amour said. "He'll tell us when he feels good."
In any case, the Canes, as disappointed as they may be from the results in Nashville, are a confident bunch heading into Game 5. They should be. They earned that right. Now they have another opportunity to prove it.
"It's a three-game series now. We feel good. We feel confident," Skjei said. "We're ready to get started again."
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