while I agree whole heartedly with the spirit of this.
Part of me is looking at this as the time is now. We have a potent team, Crosby is firing on all cylinders, so is Guentz, Malkin is rounding back into form. We just don't know how things will play out next season or the next. We've seen playoffs with both Crosby and Malkin out. Each playoff run is it's own microcosm. I appreciate greatly the ride the last couple of season, but right now, we are a better team then the Capitals. To bow out when we are actually playing better then our opposition would be extremely frustrating.
Oh we definitely wasted the best of Jake/Sid. That's for sure. That's the only sad part. But you cannot win a cup with 1 or 2 guys:
- Kessel: Hurt/not himself. Really struggling. Can't happen at the most important time.
- Murray: Not playing poorly but also not playing god-like. We knew when we left MAF we had a goalie with less ceiling but a higher floor. We wouldn't have the high highs and the low lows. I could say Mur has been okay. Right now we need MAF round 2 last year or Murray SCF last year.
- Brass/Sheary/Rust: All 3 have the same issue. They look great but the finish isn't there.
- Letang legit losing a game for us after all the stuff above is going on is unacceptable.
- Geno was hurt. Hags was hurt. Kessel HAS to be hurt. Dumo was injured for a game.
I mean it's about luck, too. All that stuff not going our way is definitely all going into the blender and why we are down 3-2. And we aren't even dead yet with ALL of that going on. Impressive. But this is why back-to-back is impossible let alone 3peats. It happens to every team.