Maybe it's selective bias but it seems to me often when a key player gets hurt and you assume the team is going to plummet, and then they do it quite well, as if the players realize how screwed they are and step it up, or the opposing teams take it lightly. Presumably the longer a player is like the less likely that is sustainable, though.
I keep thinking of that year Hasek got hurt in the playoffs for Bufflo, and everyone in Toronto assumed they would win easily. Then the backup (Roloson, maybe?) came in and stole a game, and everyone was in shock. The next game, amidst reports Hasek was done, the Leafs won, but then Hasek came back and the Sabres won the series.
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