The season came to an end for the St. Louis Blues on Sunday afternoon, as they were swept out of the second round of the Western Conference playoffs by the Los Angeles Kings. Rather than dwelling on what transpired in this game and the series in general, though, SB Nation's St. Louis Game Plan chose to reflect on what proved to be an impressive early-season transformation by the Blues.
This was supposed to be a team that had lots of ups and downs and was still transitioning into whatever they will become in the next few years. At the start of the season, at 6-7-0, the script was being followed.
And then, of course, they showed everyone what could be. That the Blues are a strong team when they play a strong team concept game. That they have the right management in place in Doug Armstrong and the right coach in place in Ken Hitchcock. Much of the foundation is set - the team is a young core group and they all learned a lot of important lessons about how to win in the regular season and in the playoffs. They also learned how quickly it can be taken away.
Related: 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Blues Vs. Kings: A Series Postmortem
For more on the Kings, head to Jewels From The Crown and SB Nation Los Angeles. For more on the Blues, visit St. Louis Game Time and SB Nation St. Louis. For complete coverage of the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs, stick with SB Nation's NHL hub.