There’s worry in Washington, fretting in Tampa, they’re squeamish in Nashville, jangling nerves in Raleigh, trepidation in Pittsburgh, and there’s full-on angst in Los Angeles.

You know where there is none of that? Florida. Colorado. New York. Toronto.

Oh, to be on a heater heading through the final weeks of the NHL’s regular season.

Or maybe not.

Should you pencil in a parade for South Florida or Denver or, heaven forbid, downtown Toronto?

Does it mean all those slumping Nervous Nellie teams are destined to be one-and-done come playoff time?

In short, no and no.

Whatever is happening right now in any of the 16 markets that will host playoff hockey starting in early May, none of that will have any bearing on how those teams fare once the puck drops on the second season.

Because for every ice-cold team – like the 2020-21 Montreal Canadiens, who were winless in their last five games of the regular season and outscored 21-11 before going to their first Stanley Cup final since 1993 – there’s an example of a red-hot team like the 2019 St. Louis Blues, who went 8-1-1 down the stretch before ending a rags to riches saga with their first Stanley Cup championship in Game 7 in Boston.

Rick Tocchet won a Stanley Cup as a player, participating in 145 post-season games over the course of his career. He also won two Stanley Cups as an assistant to Mike Sullivan in Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017.

The final two weeks of the regular season can be challenging for players on teams that have already locked up playoff spots because there is the balance of trying to do the right things, play the right way, but at the same time the value of those games pales in comparison to what lies ahead.

Tocchet and others we spoke with agree that each team, each dynamic is different but that having had the experience of long playoff runs should help mitigate teams that have run a bit aground in the final weeks of the regular season.