I'll admit, peaking at the wrong time during the regular season is absolutely something that can come back to haunt you during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In fact, I'll even go as far as conceding that the NHL's most prolific scorer who no-showed two playoff games before selfishly and stupidly getting himself suspended for a third didn't have too many satisfying responses at his disposal when it came to answering to his team getting soullessly swept. That being said, on the long, long list of unsatisfactory responses, referring to some sort of slow organizational watch following a 62-win season is second only to "well, I had a vacation scheduled, so..." in terms of absolutely infuriating answers. Blaming the stars for their refusal to align in your favor following an unlucky overtime bounce in Game 7 is one thing. Talking fate after getting brushed aside quicker than Spring cleaning is quite another. A failure to adopt an astrologically friendly offense isn't what has Tampa Bay icing their asses at home as opposed to getting ready to regain home ice advantage. Entitlement, maybe. Complacency, probably. A false sense of security, definitely. But for sure not some Daylight Savings Time-style shift in their competitive clock. This Lightning team was as built for success as any team in the history of hockey, so skirting accountability by pointing the finger at vague, mystic circumstances immediately after the Columbus Blue Jackets finished picking the final remnants of professional pride out of their brooms is evidence of mental weakness throughout a locker room that's the furthest thing from short on physical talent. Perhaps it's just a coincidence that Nikita Kucherov was the one that happened to speak to it while in the process of trying to explain an inexplicable embarrassment. However, it's quite fitting as his absentee series alone is a pretty perfect example of the Tampa Bay Lightning waiting for the wins to come easy as opposed to going out there and taking what they earned. Artemi Panarin certainly can't relate...
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