It would, but they've already pretty much fucked up picking in the top 10. So, might as well root for a (still unrealistic) playoff bid. They're gonna end up picking 13th-16th either way, imo..
And oh, you didn't miss much. We capitalized on 2 mistakes to get our goals. Goalie fucked up trying to clear the puck and bounced it in off Oshies leg. Then a bad turnover led to a McMike breakaway goal. We had no actual offense to speak of, for the 3rd straight game.
Ah, but how many times have we heard complaints on this board about how the Caps can't capitalize on scoring opportunities and then BAM - the opponent gets a chance and it ends up in the net. Sometimes maybe it's our turn to be out chanced, but we get the big breaks and win.
As for our position in the standings, after the bottom 7 (3 in the East, 4 in the West) who look out of touch below the rest of the league, there are 12 teams clustered within 9 points of each other, between 67 and 76 standings points. The Caps, with 71, are smack in the middle of that group at the moment, and every other team has played as many or more games as we have. So we could finish anywhere from like the 6th or 7th East seed in the playoffs to the 8th worst record. Our number of games remaining is a bit of an advantage, but we also seem to have the toughest finishing schedule of any team. And who knows about all the tiebreakers? It seems to me that where we finish is totally up in the air at this point.
Finishing relatively strong and squeaking into the playoffs may look good on the franchise resume, but we aren't by any means a Cup contender and picking in the middle to bottom middle of the pack again isn't going to help the franchise longer-term. This is especially true now that we've bitten the bullet, picked up some draft picks, and are pretty well stocked with them for the next few years. It isn't just a higher first round pick, either -- you're picking higher in EACH round, so if someone promising slides below their prospect rank for some reason, you have a better chance to grab them.