Yeah. Brutal 2nd period. I've witnessed those "lull" periods from the wild over the season. Heck. Over the entirety of nhl hockey Minnesota.

Great teams don't have those periods.
I stead. Perhaps they'll take an entire game off. " Need the rest" coast this one & well come back full and finish these guys off.

That's kinda the feel I've gotten from this series. When the avs put there minds to it. They are a machine. They just churn, churn, cycle the left, cycle the right. Never relinquish the pick and just wear out the opponent via endless chase.

I want to see avs/ canes in the final.
Perhaps Montreal can keep pace with the avs.

But man, you can tell when they are on. The avs just force the opponent to chase in the defensive zone. Heavy on the for check. Heavy on the board hits. Grind the opponent into exhaustion. In the NFL, its Bill Parcells football. Just grind em down with size. Keep laying the blows with a big rb, massive linemen & te's. Beat on, beat on em. Win the possession game. Wear out the legs of the opponent until they start making mistakes while chasing...

And that's how the final 15 minutes went down in this one. By the end. The wilds legs were fully gassed. I don't know what the answer is. I'd like to say "play keep away". Use offense as a defense the way vegas does. They'll play half an entire period just passing it around. Forcing the opponent to chase. Never truly attempting to get into the offensive zone. A game of keep away played on your side of the red zone. Or between the blues... I've watched games this year where vegas will just pass it around in the back half for an entire shift. Look to start in, and then retreat back. I watched a game between chicago & vegas where the black hawks did the same back at vegas. It went to ot 1-1. The announcers heads nearly exploded .. "what are they doing? Doesn't anybody care to score tonight?" It was almost comical but Instead was just boring as hell.

Carolina plays some of that style too.

I'm glad the wild play aggressive & fast. It's entertaining.