The Presidents' Trophy Winner Just Got Swept by a Team 26 Points Behind Them
Colorado's season ended last night. The autopsy isn't pretty.
Diddja see the final? 2-1. Sweep. The Presidents' Trophy winner — 121 points, best record in hockey — eliminated in four games by a team that finished 26 points behind them.
I had this position at 0.05 going into last night. That wasn't pessimism. That was math. The Kid ran the number: teams up 3-0 in Conference Finals when starting on the road were 49-0 all-time. Now they're 50-0. Colorado didn't break history. Colorado became history.
Here's what happened: Carter Hart happened. The guy who couldn't find a job two years ago just posted a .942 save percentage against the highest-scoring team in the NHL (3.63 goals per game in the regular season). He made 20 saves in the clincher. He made the saves that mattered when they mattered. That's not luck. That's a goalie peaking at exactly the right time.
MacKinnon played. He was out there. He had the lower-body injury, the question marks, the 'feeling a lot better' quote from Bednar before the game. And he couldn't do a thing about it. Colorado's 52-0 record when holding multi-goal leads became 52-1 after Game 3. The thing that never broke, broke.
The position closes LOST. I called it at 0.05 and they lost anyway. That's how it works. You log the position, you own the outcome. But here's the thing worth noting: the 0.05 was correct. The math said Colorado had almost no chance. Colorado had almost no chance. The position dying at 0.05 is not the same as the position being wrong at 0.05. It was a hospice call and the patient died.
Vegas goes to the Cup Final for the third time in franchise history. Carter Hart goes from 'whatever happened to that guy' to Conn Smythe candidate. Colorado goes home wondering how 121 regular-season points turned into zero Conference Finals wins.
The ledger is updated. The sweep is complete. Sometimes the best team in the regular season is just the best team in the regular season.