Defense was not really the primary issue, imo. There were stretches in these playoffs where they shut down the opposition and even Washington, when they got the lead. Looked fantastic, and looked like that D on paper that was stacked at the TDL.
Bigger issue was you had a Top 6 that went totally silent in the last 3 games, and pretty much the entire series at ES. Sadly Miller followed the same ways as his Rangers days in the playoffs. Killorn and Johnson were not playoff beasts this year, but would give a pass to Gourde and Cirelli who are new to this experience. Although Cirelli was solid. Stamkos was good in the beginning but really only on the PP, and Kucherov just was not there in the last several games when it mattered the most.
This happened in the 2015 SCF, when Stamkos had 0 points in 6 games, and Johnson was playing hurt. Stamkos, Kucherov, and co dissappear when the stage gets bigger. You can bring in whoever you want on D , even have an All-Star Defense top to bottom, but if your big guns not even at least one of them are scoring those big goals it won’t matter. If they had scored one goal in the last two games and possibly first, these game outcomes are very different. Maybe won’t even get to a Game 7. That first goal is very important. Especially in the playoffs. I felt if they got the lead, the D would have showed up, and hold that lead. Anyway just my opinion, had 2 days to think about it. Lol.
