How tough do you think it is for the players to get up for these final few games when the playoffs are looming right around the corner? - @johnnybolla
Honestly, for this group, I don't think it's an issue.
Maybe other teams will clinch a playoff berth and put it in coast mode until May 2, but I really don't see that being the case for the Canes.
As I'm typing this the Rangers are just hours away from having a shot to reach 100 points, effectively creating a tie for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division. Pittsburgh is only six points back of them. There's no room for a slide here.
Plus, not only does this team hate to lose (cliché, I know), but also you want to go into the playoffs hot, not amid a skid, right?
Last week I caught up with Ian Cole to talk about the impending clinching and he was very candid in talking about his time in St. Louis. It was early in his career, but he talked about how the one year the team was picked by all the talking heads to win the Stanley Cup. They clinched without about ten games to go and they put it in cruise control. Then, when the playoffs began, they couldn't get back on track and they got bounced early. You could tell that stuck with him and he doesn't want to see that happen here.
Is it too early to predict how many games the Canes need to win in the last stretch to guarantee the best playoff scenario? - @\_amdsoftball
Well, I suppose this begs the question, what is the best playoff scenario? Who are you hoping to see the Canes play in the first round? The Eastern Conference is going to be far from a walk in the park.
Given the above, and how tight the division and Wild Card races alike are, I think the answer to your question is yes, it's a bit too early to start crunching numbers in terms of X has to happen for Carolina to meet Washington in the first round.
A lot can, and likely will, change over the course of the next ten games.
Where did the black pants come from? And why did they decide to start wearing them now? - @MargaretHogan\_
The black pants have been around, up until this week they'd only ever been worn with the team's black alternate sweaters though. As you saw Tuesday and Thursday the team elected to do a two-game trial to see how they'd look with the white and red uniforms.
What did you think? By now most have expressed their opinion.
While right now there are no plans for the team to do a mismatched getup again this season, the red sweater, and black pants look will go down in history as the combination worn when the team clinched their 2022 playoff berth.
Update on Brendan Smith? - @The\_Shadow\_68
For those who missed it, last night Brendan Smith was boarded 15 seconds into the third period, ending his night.
Post-game Rod Brind'Amour didn't have any update and with the team being completely off today, I, unfortunately, don't have anything further. The next time we'll know anything would be tomorrow morning at skate before the contest against Anaheim.
The league did work rather quickly in
suspending New York's Casey Cizikas
for the hit though.
What do you think the plan is for Kochetkov going forward? - @wlowery14
This is becoming the million-dollar question, Wil.
The Canes obviously have two very strong goalies on their roster right now, which is very good thing. However, starting your North American pro career 10-0-1 with a .932 save percentage (SV%) is also alarming - in a very good way.
I, like you, am very excited to see how the rest of this season and playoffs go for him.
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