Fine. Look, I get it. Winning the division is nice and feels like an advantage. But it hasn't actually made **** for difference for the Caps over the past four years. They had home ice and choked. They blew their home ice advantage in both R1 and R2 last year and won on the road. And they beat the Bolts and Vegans despite not having home ice.
As far as Carolina goes, they might be an easier out, but then the Caps just find themselves probably playing the Pens next anyway. Or the Islanders win the division and whether they win or lose against the Canes if the Caps were to beat Pitt, without Malkin BTW, in R1, they arguably get an easier out for R2. It's all the same difference in the end, at least to me.
My main point is that there's a set of posters here (not you, necessarily) who've been worried about the the Caps missing playoffs and now god forbid not winning the Metro and all the other things all year, but here we are in Metro first at the end of March. I just don't see much to be upset or anxious about.
And FWIW, the notion of playing Tampa in R1 has some appeal to me. Imagine the pressure on that team in that series... Gotta beat the Caps for revenge. Gotta not choke in the first round. Meanwhile, Caps could play loose knowing everyone expects them to lose, just like last year's ECF. Could be delicicous.
All of that said, I prefer when they win their games, so yeah, Go Caps!