Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
I think this is mostly bunk. Quite simply, COL was a better playoff team in almost every way.
How could you not be "ready to go"?
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The level of intensity increases significantly from the regular season to the playoffs and again throughout each round of the playoffs. The Avalanche had already been playing elimination-style hockey for 25 games prior to the start of the playoffs. That amount of desperation can produce effective results in the short term, but also results in a team burning out quickly, which we saw in the 2nd round. The Avs/Flames matchup was similar to having a team the survived three 7-game rounds of playoffs playing a team just had to play meaningless exhibition games all month. Which of those teams do you think would be more ready and know better what it takes to win in the playoffs?
Also, let’s not forget that in spite of how it looked, the Flames almost won 2 (arguably 3) of the 4 they lost. It was a 4-game losing streak at the worst possible time.