from Terry Frei of the Denver Post,

Here's the ultimate compliment to what the Avalanche — ownership, management, coaching staff and players — accomplished this season: The regional reaction to a first-round playoff loss is mass disappointment.

And it should be. That's a compliment too.

Letting the Avalanche off the hook for the seven-game loss to Minnesota diminishes the stunning progress the franchise made in 2013-14. The talk this morning should be of how the Avalanche stands after the first two games of the Western Conference semifinal series at home against the Blackhawks, heading into the next two games at Chicago's United Center.

The fact that I'm able to speak of what should have been, rather than make this some starry-eyed reference to what might have been, acknowledges not just the magnitude of the turnaround, but also the "Stanley Cup attitude" Patrick Roy cited when he was introduced as coach last year.

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