How the Senators' implosion proved inevitable despite their deep playoff run

The Ottawa Senators shocked everyone when the pushed the Penguins to a game seven, double-overtime finale of 2017's Eastern Conference Finals. They over-performed, they got lucky, they shouldn't have made it that far - but they were there. The Sens sat on the doorstep to competing for the franchise's first-ever Stanley Cup. And then, poof.

Not only did they lose that game, but everything that their magical run momentarily covered up came fully into view. Their destruction came from within and as the months rolled by it proved that no matter what the players had done on the ice in 2017, their demise was inevitable.