This year's Canes team shows flashes of the dominant play we have come to expect, and then turns around the next night (or even the next period) and looks like the bad old Canes teams that pre-dated Dundon. Obviously that Cup contender level of play is still here, we just need to tap into it on a much more consistent basis.
Getting reliable goaltending will help that along, but as we know with Kochetkov, he is also all over the place in terms of his performance. Spectacular sometimes, craptacular other times. We just need NHL average in the nets to succeed. Hopefully Kochetkov's latest 4 game run (3-0-1, 1.47 GAA, .948 Sv%) is a sign of a goalie finally getting into a groove.
It was a bummer those last 2 goals happened. Yes, they were 'meaningless', the game was clearly decided. But just from a phycological perspective, if those 2 shots never occurred, Kochetkov would have gotten his Sv% to .900. Instead its .895. Yes, that probably means nothing to him or anyone on the team, but I as a fan I know I would have felt better.