Yeah I understand that point as well. Stars a couple inches away from winning the Cup
I still feel like one key ingredient was missing from the Stars this year. I do think they'd have beaten SJ, but I don't think they'd have beaten Boston.
This Blues team is still amazing to me that they carried their home struggles throughout the playoffs and still won the Stanley Cup. Has a team ever won it before with a .500 record in the playoffs at home? Every series I thought that would come back to bite them, but it never did. Stunned that game 7 of the Final - the Super Bowl of hockey - couldn't get a better effort from the Bruins. That said, I'm not convinced it wasn't just a superior effort from STL.
Boston got off to a great start and really dictated the game, but found themselves down 2-0 after the 1st. That late goal to end the first may have been a dagger. Those are totally deflating in the final seconds of a period; especially when you've had the better of play yet find yourself down 2 goals.
STL caught some lightning in a bottle in January and they still have it contained. Hopefully their bottle breaks in the off season and they never capture it again.