Going into it, I remember still being positive.
Then we went up 3-0 in the 1st period and my friends and I started looking at ECF ticket prices (do not do this).
Then they scored on that fluuuuuuukey ass goal by JVR to make it 3-1 at the end of the first, and I just knew. I didn't say anything, but I knew in my heart that there was a good chance they were going to blow it. Then that flukey ass goal from Briere, and I really knew we had no shot.
It sucked, but my rationale was if they were going to blow a lead like that, have a collapse like that, even with their myriad of injuries, they didn't deserve to be there in the first place anyway. That was not a Cup caliber team. For me the loss to the inferior Hurricanes the year before was worse, I felt like that was a potential Cup contender at the time.
I will say though, sweeping the Flyers, and then finishing it by winning the Cup the very next year, completely erased it. It caused the Flyers to completely blow up their core, which was a bad move in my mind. Ask the Flyers fans if they'd like to swap roles with us, have them have the collapse but win the Cup the next year vs having that comeback and not winning anything. They'd take that trade 101/100 times.