The way the final goal was scored Sunday night, while entirely coincidental, managed to be even more galling for Carolina Hurricanes fans than the mere fact of its scoring.
First of all, there was Cam Ward leaving a rebound sitting at his pads for Taylor Hall to poke past him for the overtime winner that vaulted the New Jersey Devils farther ahead in the standings and effectively and pragmatically, if not technically and mathematically, made a playoff spot a near impossibility for the Hurricanes after they took one lonely point from three Metropolitan Division games over the weekend.