Seems to me the last two minutes of third periods have seen a lot of goals this year. So many sides losing a lead or game at the death.

Home ice has been everything in that tight series. I see it needing a seventh game in Colorado to settle it.

oh you are thinking about it the wrong way. think of the impact of that single punch on the red wings face. that impact would feel like all the punches of two fights by a normal human (yes, i am saying chara isnt normal)

hossa went down after the olympics but kane and toews were down for a few weeks before the playoffs right after hossa came back. Crawford went down for 3 weeks earlier in the season

The Blues had 5 of their top 6 forwards out just before the playoffs.  It was part of the reason they lost the last six of the season.

And I named 4 blackhawk injuries. I don't know how long the Blues injuries were (or exactly who) but Crawfords was 3 weeks. Kane was out a month. Toews out for 2.5 weeks. Hossa out 2.5 weeks

Kane > Toews > Steen > Hossa > Oshie > Backes

So the top two injured guys on the Hawks were better than all STL players on the year. Kane is a beast missing a month and still getting as many points as he did. Then the next injured player on the team beat all but one STL player.

Better yet, Kane got a point per game. Toews got .89 points per game. Steen got .91 points per game. Hossa got .83. Oshie got .76 points per game. Backes got .77 points per game. Schwartz .7. Tarasenko .67.

That at least factors in games missed by only taking into consideration production in games played. In that stat Steen barely sneaks by Toews and Backes and Oshie just flip flop. Schwartz and Oshie played most of the season. Tarasenko missed the most. Steen was injured before Hossa.

Basically the injuries on both teams affected their positioning. A case can easily be made that if Kane, Hossa and Toews stayed healthy down the stretch they would have been able to get enough points to get home ice. Maybe even beat out the Avs

That's true. He's a Slovakian mountain troll.

David Backes, T.J. Oshie, Patrick Berglund, Barret Jackman, Brenden Morrow, Vladimir Tarasenko, Alex Pietrangelo and Vladimir Sobotka, all at the same time, and right before the playoffs started.  It sucks, but it just wasn't our year.

Wild and Kings force game 7. Go Wild!!!!