I've learned that I hate watching playoffs when "my team" isn't in them. So I don't really watch...a bit here and there idly, maybe a bit of OT.
It's a LONG wait for October.
Other than that: what I've said before...the hardest working teams win. There may be other factors, but nobody floats. No one swoops and cruises. Every player has purpose on every shift - either offensively creating, or closing fast defensively. The teams that execute that philosophy best and most effectively...win. Period.
Great centres and good goaltending are factors, but if too many players are too ineffective in their roles, it doesn't matter who they have playing for them. What do we so often hear from coaches? "We failed to execute."
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