And now we have an 8th seed in the Stanley Cup Finals.
It’s funny how little the standing mean to any the leagues other than the NBA. NHL teams go through such a long season with injuries and streaks and trades their points standing often has no reflection of the current team. A bad December can set you up to barely make the playoffs even if you’re great. The Preds have been great in the playoffs, winning 3 completely different styles of series. I favor them over anybody coming out of the East, maybe if the Pens were healthy I’d give them the edge, but not minor leaguers on defense and Crosby still clearly fogged up from that concussion.
You can't argue with Nashville's success, though. They swept a Chicago team in the first round that a lot of people were picking to win their second straight Stanley Cup.
And maybe it's just me and I'm exaggerating this, but it seems like we've seen more teams go on a strong playoff run in recent years after firing the coach in the middle of the season. What's that all about? Did Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin suck while playing for one coach last year, then suddenly find their skills again with a new coach?