It’s all about getting hot at the right time & staying relatively healthy. The team got banged up bad at the end of the season with a very condensed schedule. Dumba, Spurgeon, and Zucc were very significant players to get hurt late. We then drew the 3rd best team in the West despite having 113 points. It was a shit draw.
Team should’ve capitalized on Game 4, but Fiala unfortunately disappeared off the map and we only had one dangerous scoring line. If he played with the same momentum he had to finish out the season, then that series is won in 5.
If the cap is rising sooner than expected by the 23-24 or 24-25 season, then I think this team should do everything in their power to remain competitive. Im just not sure Guerin is going to be successful at getting us there.
It's not like the 2nd round would have been any easier. We won't have to worry about Fiala not being white hot next year. No team is healthy for the Playoffs. It'll be the same every season getting the 1st-4th best team in the West in the 1st round of the Playoffs, unless they somehow end up as the Wild Card that plays the Pacific. It's just the disparity between the quality of the Central and the Pacific Divisions.
The team played with fire all season, relying way too much on Kaprizov to be amazing and/or their 6v5 play to get into OT.
Just a break down of the Playoff teams in the West record:
Pacific-total of 9 games: 5 reg win, 3 reg loss, 1 OT win
CGY: 3 games: 0 reg wins, 2 reg losses, 1 OT win
EDM: 3 games: 3 reg wins
LA: 3 games: 2 reg wins, 1 reg loss
Central- total of 15 games: 2 reg win, 7 reg loss, 3 OT win, 3 OT loss.
COL: 4 games: 1 reg win (throw away game for COL), 1 reg loss, 1 OT loss, 1 OT win
STL: 3 games: 0 reg win, 1 reg loss, 2 OT loss
DAL: 4 games: 1 reg win, 2 reg loss, 1 OT win
NSH: 4 games: 0 reg win 3 reg loss, 1 OT win
It wasn't just STL was a bad draw for MN. Of the 5 possible teams MN could have played in the 1st round (if the Central standings fell differently) they had a combined record of 2 reg win, 9 reg loss, 4 OT wins, 3 OT losses. That is a 2:1 loss to win ratio. It's even uglier once the gimmick 3v3/SO hockey is eliminated and realize they were 2-9 in games that ended in regulation (normal 5v5), and one of those wins the other team sat it's best players.
Yay for a great season of beating up bad teams, but not beating the teams that matter.