In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, is there really any such thing as “playing with house money”?
Fandom, by very definition, is being fanatical about the team you’ve chosen to follow. Throughout the regular season, and especially prior to Christmas, Dallas Stars fans would have set the goal for success of this season at just making the playoffs. Do that, and everything else beyond it is gravy.
Then the team was second best in the Western Conference following their CBA-mandated 5-day break and the All-Star break that followed it. All of a sudden, the goal became not just making the playoffs, but winning a round.