With the exception of Colorado, I felt any of the other #1 Seeds could be vulnerable.
Well, they might be up 3-0....and it seems like they are playing with a different mindset/confidence from the last couple of years. But..
- Kuemper's eye injury not supposed to be "serious", but he's questionable for Game 4. And even moving forward, it's difficult to know how it might affect him in the coming games.
- Francouz is a very credible backup, but initially you could see Nashville gaining more confidence when they tied it up at 2-2 in Game 3....the first goal against Francouz. Granted, Ingram looked human after a stellar 49 save showing in Game 2. But the goaltending musical chairs is not typically a good thing for any team in the playoffs.
- This core team still hasn't done it in the playoffs yet, so there's always some trepidation until they get over that hurdle of advancing past the second round. I noticed in spite of the great regular season (as they did in previous years), a lot of the predictions in this thread had them losing their second round matchup again.
- Even with Kuemper unaffected by the injury, the competition gets tougher in each round....and he has to prove he's ready for THAT as well.
So I think they are looking VERY good, but every team is vulnerable. The Kentucky Derby favorite was winning the race down the backstretch yesterday, but the 80-1 odds horse came from behind and won at the wire.