from Michael Traikos of the National Post,

A year after an expansion team went to the Stanley Cup final, parity ran amok in the NHL. Whether it was the Islanders reaching the second round without John Tavares or the Presidents’ Trophy winner getting swept by the 16th-seeded team, anything can happen in the playoffs. You just have to get in.

“It could have been us,” said Chicago’s Patrick Kane, whose team was only six points out. “I think going forward that will be the message for a lot of teams in the league if they’re struggling at that point in the season. You can now look at what St. Louis did.”

It wasn’t that the Blues just got into the playoffs. It was how they got in. The team might have been lost for the first-half of the season, but no one was hotter in the final few months, when it mattered the most.

“It’s not like they came out of nowhere, because they had the team to play like that,” said Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, whose team finished two points ahead of the Sabres. “That’s the difference between a team under-performing and maybe a bad team playing their best. It’s a big difference.”

more