Recency bias has failed us this time.
There's one game remaining in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the tournament has already forged an entirely new identity. For starters, the most successful unsuccessful team in the post-lockout era is through, having overthrown the impossibly resilient defending champions; California's small-town entity finally brought down the in-state giant, and did it without much push back; and a previously dynastic force won its first series in 23 years, and in its first try since moving into the Brooklyn borough.
There are no Canadian teams or Original Six franchises in the second round for the first time ever. Just four clubs which have never won the Stanley Cup, and three one-hit wonders.
So taking this discernible theme of exorcising demons, chasing away ghosts, or slaying whatever it is that's most sinister, it begs the question: Which of these teams has suffered most?
And could it help us arrive at a champion?
St. Louis Blues
St. Louis is the NHL's oldest active franchise without a championship, but not one that hasn't tasted success. The Blues have qualified for the postseason in 40-of-48 seasons in operation, which includes a run of 25 consecutive entries from 1980 through to the NHL's lockout season.
But Blues' fans have become impervious to regular-season success because it's never translated to the playoffs. The Blues' three appearances in the Stanley Cup Final came in their first three years, but also at a time when the format required a 1967 expansion franchise to reach the final. In the time since, which, again, includes 25 consecutive bids, the Blues reached the conference finals twice, losing both.
But even still, the post-lockout era has perhaps provided the most heartbreak. St. Louis, a team that's won more games that any other team over the last half decade, won just its second playoff series in the last 13 years with its seven-game triumph over the Blackhawks.
San Jose Sharks
Like the Blues, San Jose has maintained a level of consistency throughout its history, missing the postseason just six times since its establishment in 1991 and failing to qualify once in the post-lockout era.
However, the Sharks have enjoyed success when reaching the dance. They clinched their ninth series win since the lockout this spring in five games over the Los Angeles Kings. The problem's been stringing enough series wins together.
San Jose reached the Western Conference Final three times in a stretch of seven seasons with at least 99 regular-season points beginning in 2003-04. In those series, the Sharks routinely folded, bowing out with an average of one win per appearance.
Washington Capitals
Experiencing comfort in the throes of the postseason is a rare occurrence, but something completely foreign to the Capitals fan base.
Washington owns a detailed history of building, and allowing leads to slip - a disturbing trend that dates as far back as 1985, when it became the first to blow a 2-0 series lead in the best-of-five, and two years later, when it was the first to cough up a 3-1 series lead under the seven-game format.
This is a team that's made the postseason in 26 of the last 33 years, but only made the Stanley Cup Final once in their history. But what's hurt most has been what's most recent.
Washington has six division titles and five 100-point seasons since Alex Ovechkin - the greatest goal-scorer of his generation - joined the Capitals, and haven't made it past the second round.
New York Islanders
The Islanders are unlike those mentioned above in that they have a plus-.500 postseason record. And while we're hesitant to include a club that's among merely a handful that can stake claim to a genuine dynasty, the last quarter century has been just too damning.
Triumph eluded an entire generation of Islanders fans that came after the club's four consecutive Stanley Cups in the early 1980s. Those endured a 23-year run without a series victory before John Tavares' overtime winner versus the Panthers in Game 6.
The club made the playoffs six times during those two-plus decades, winning just 11 games in total.
Verdict
With all due respect to the previous futilities of the Sharks and Islanders, but if this is indeed time for gutting results to be replaced with glory, the Blues and Capitals should be the two teams who meet in the Stanley Cup Final.
But with 227 combined points this season, neither the Blues nor Capitals seem to require what cosmic factors seemed to have presided over Round 1.
