Because what you're saying makes no sense!I'm not sure why you don't get the unsustainable part. We are nowhere near as good a skating team as we once were and yet anytime we've been in a must win situation particularly late in the season we've laid ostrich eggs. Sure we had plenty of energy for Pittsburgh in a short series but that didn't hold out against a very beatable Philadelphia team in a regular playoff format with better goaltending. We run into trouble when teams simply match our work rate. This is nothing new and given the urgency in a compacted schedule with 4 point games every night we have to prove we can overcome it. Don't get me wrong I'm happy with some of the changes up front but it's still comes up a few horses short of a stable. We expend an awful lot of energy owning the perimeter and talented teams can expend less and still come out on top. It's a little bit unsettling to see some of these same traits rearing its head. Rolling four lines is nice but if you can't score any energy saving means squat.
What's unsustainable? Working hard for 13 minutes a game?
We're 14 games in for god sake!
Your whole theory would make sense if we would be at game 60 or 70.
Don't tell me they're flat out there because they're already tired. Our schedule was not even that tough so far, we keep getting breaks and we have another whole week of rest coming up.
There're forwards out there playing 22 minutes per game and I see them flying up and down the ice with no problem.
So what exactly is unsustainable?