And that's why this year was always going to be an important learning year for this team. And learning they are - how easy it is to lose; what it takes to win; what it takes to be consistently better than other teams; how to manage their expectations; how to mentally prep for games.
With learning comes growing pains, and I have to believe that's what we're ultimately seeing here. A young team, learning what it takes to win, and not always applying it consistently.
Whether we make it or not to the post season this year is not really the important thing here. What is, is how they apply these lessons as individuals and as a team from puck drop next year.