I really hope so...for real.
Because otherwise we're fu*
Agree. And I really don't want to overreact, especially since I've said on many occasions previously not to overreact to others, but we're at crunch time. We're facing our first round playoff opponent. The more they score, the more they beat us, the more they generally dominate playoff, the more confidence they gain.
They can't beat us if we're healthy with 86 and 91, but this isn't a video game. We don't plug Kuch and Stammer back in and see them immediately perform at their rating level. But we're going to have to hope we get 75-80% of that when they return and, more importantly, we're going to need them to return soon. Florida's depth is simply better than ours and their playmakers are better than ours otherwise. At least in terms of forwards, Florida has the two best on the ice right now, and they have the majority of the top-10/15. There's just no way around it.
And, to be honest, if we do lose in the first round without two of our best forwards, in many ways, that's not even a failure. In the context of the pre-season expectations, obviously it would be, but there's only so much you can do when you're missing too many of your best players at the wrong time. But hopefully that's not what it boils down to.
