You're response is almost the exact same as the one I just defended myself against.. I've already made it clear that my assessment is a casual one and there is no need to to try and tell me that these game mean little, in the way of the playoffs, etc. That much is obvious. No need to point it out. I was making a simple point that the Caps should feel the need to improve over the last 3 meetings and you should hopefully notice it tonight. I'll drop it. We're getting into semantics..
I certainly wasn't trying to attack your observation so no need to defend it. My main reason for posting what I did is that fan bases tend to make way too much of early season games and of regular season games when there is little correlation there. If we get blown out tonight, some folks on here (not saying you specifically) will go to their fainting couches and call for TR to be fired, Orlov to be executed, and Oshie to be traded.
My point is that this game means little in terms of determining our playoff fate, just like games in November meant little in determining if we "would make" the playoffs at all. Everything changes in the playoffs, most importantly our overall effort level and how much our physical presence matters over a long series, two things that have generally been completely missing throughout this whole regular season.
That said, I've love to see the Caps curb stomp the Pens tonight but if the opposite happens, I'm not losing a minutes sleep over it.