No it wasn't, although MP85 playing his best hockey in years and Lewis enjoying a resurgent season were a big part of that success. I'm not sure whether plugging in, say, Gus in favour of Nate T would have boosted or dropped those numbers, but certainly it was refreshing to have a 4th that was trusted to play in tight situations and not start an immediate 5-alarm fire in our end. It has def been a while since we've had a 4th that was more than a placeholder.
I still think that the rigidity of a scoring/checking/energy-vet roster and line deployment isn't optimal in an evolving league, and I also think that younger players can be taught the mysteries of an effective PK -- but those are opinions, obviously, and they've been argued plenty here.
New season, new hope.