It won't literally end the season but a loss here is very bad because of the upcoming road trip. We play a team we always struggle with in NJD, two of the top teams in the NHL back to back (NYR/NYI), travel over to play suddenly unstoppable Minny, and then over to Chicago. I'd love to be surprised with more than 3 wins there, but counting today, going 4-2 in those games would be a success in my eyes. Anything less puts us in a scary spot down the stretch that we CAN work thru but we would suddenly need a lot of trends to correct, like bad third periods with the lead, puck luck/crap bounces, etc.
On the other hand, we thrive on adversity so who ever knows until we are mathematically eliminated
This is huge because it's one of those "control your fate" games we have discussed.