Ryan Rishaug

So the Ducks had a better regular season than everyone thought they would or could.

The Oilers had a worse regular season than everyone thought they would or could.

But the orders finished strong, and so despite the one-point differential, their experience and their strong finish made them heavy favorites against an Anaheim team that was full of guys that overachieved and were doing it for the first time.

I'll stand by that narrative heading into the series.

That's fair.

The orders should have been favored coming into this series.

The orders were not in command of their game.

They did not come out and consistently lay down a quality of play that should have made it a no-doubter.

They didn't.

But that was a characteristic they had all year long.

Now they're trying to get themselves out of this one.

They're trying to get themselves out of this one because the problem with being that team, Bob, is if you get the wrong injury at the wrong time, you don't have the quality of play to get through anybody.

You got next to no chance.

Now they've got a chance here and they might.

But they got themselves here.

This is not about one injury.

This is about a group that didn't get enough out of itself and develop enough consistency and enough of an identity.

And now they're scrambling to find it in series.

And they just might.

And they just might take it all the way after that.