Sharks, Blues in Prime Position to Exorcise Playoff Demons

Oh hey, look who decided to show up.

Thanks to the NHL's annual tradition of always having that one series that drags on a few days longer than everyone else, the Western Conference is a bit late to the round two party. The East is already underway, with the Islanders beating the Lightning, 5-3, in Wednesday night's opener. We previewed the Eastern Conference yesterday.

Today it's on to the West, which suddenly looks wide open with the Blackhawks and Kings knocked out early.

The champs are out, thanks to the St. Louis Blues and a pair of posts. That leaves the door open for some new blood in the conference final.

#1 Stars vs. #2 Blues

In this corner: The Dallas Stars (50-23-9, +37 true goals differential), the West's top seed and the league's most productive offense.

And in this corner: The St. Louis Blues (49-24-9, +22), moving on to the second round for just the second time in 14 years.

In round one: The Blues (barely) survived that seven-game war with the Blackhawks, while the Stars had more trouble than expected with the Wild in a six-game series.

Injury report: Dallas center Tyler Seguin's return to the lineup in the opening round lasted one game; his status for this series is unknown. The Blues are no doubt beaten up after the Blackhawks, but don't have any major names on the injury report.

Dominant narrative: Now that the Blues have knocked out the Hawks and at least temporarily slain their playoff demons, is this finally the year that it all comes together and they make a deep run? Despite decades of regular-season success, they've won just a single game past the second round since 1986.

The big question: Can the Stars win this way? Sure, winning 6-5 is all sorts of fun, and it can work in the regular season. But the playoffs are a different beast, we're told, and goaltending and defense are the keys to a Cup. The Stars don't have much of either, and it showed against the Wild. Dallas switched starting goaltenders twice, and might be doing it again to start this series after Kari Lehtonen's third-period meltdown nearly cost the Stars Game 6 in Minnesota. The Stars were still able to overpower the Wild, but it's hard to see them beating a complete team like the Blues without one of their goaltenders stepping up.

One player to watch: Vladimir Tarasenko. The saga of Tarasenko's ice time became a dominant storyline of the opening round, leading to what sure looked like a rift with coach Ken Hitchcock. He may be the most explosive player left in the Western bracket, but Tarasenko just doesn't see the ice as much as you'd expect, and when he does his shifts are kept remarkably short. Like most controversies, it's not a story as long as you're winning. But we know the Stars are going to score, and you wonder if the Blues will eventually have to let their top offensive weapon take the training wheels off.

Key number: 30:33—Average ice-time in the first round for Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo; only Drew Doughty and Duncan Keith played more. Those two are widely considered the top workhorse blueliners in the league; Pietrangelo may be on the verge of joining them.

Old YouTube clip to get you fired up: Former Blues legend Brett Hull scores the overtime goal to give the Stars their first and only Stanley Cup.

The Stars coach for that game: current Blues boss Hitchcock. And the losing Sabres coach? Lindy Ruff, who's now behind the bench for Dallas.

Prediction: Blues in six, sending them to the conference final and the Stars on to a summer of soul-searching and thinkpieces.

Bonus prediction that is oddly specific: This feels like the round for the annual "the Blues briefly lose confidence in Brian Elliott for no discernible reason" storyline.

Things worked out just about as well as possible for the Sharks; they got their series done quickly, watched their opponents have to go the full seven, and then wound up with home ice. Is this their year?

#3 Sharks vs. (WC) Predators

In this corner: The Sharks (46-30-6, +11), who flew under the radar for much of the season, which isn't necessarily a bad place to be for a team known for wilting under the spotlight.

And in this corner: The Predators (41-27-14, +11), making a second-round appearance for the third time in franchise history.

In round one: The Sharks knocked out their arch-rival Kings in a surprisingly quick five games, while the Predators shocked the top-seeded Ducks in seven.

Injury report: Both teams are relatively healthy, as far as we know.

Dominant narrative: Who doesn't love a good underdog story? The Predators were largely a forgotten team for most of the season, and an afterthought in a Pacific bracket that was supposed to be all about the Battle of California. Now they've got a shot to win the whole thing.

The big question: Will fatigue be a factor? We all assumed that the Sharks and Kings would be a first-round war, while the well-rested winner of Ducks/Predators—OK, the Ducks—would sit back and enjoy the carnage. Instead, the Sharks have been off since Friday, while the Predators took the full seven to pull off the first round's biggest upset. Will it matter? Conventional wisdom says the rested team might be rusty in Game 1, but should have an advantage if the series goes long. On paper, the Sharks shouldn't need a long series to finish the Predators. On paper, the Ducks shouldn't have either.

One player to watch: Brent Burns. The Kings/Sharks series featured a matchup between Burns and Doughty, two contenders for this year's Norris. In the end, it wasn't close. Doughty had a tough series, while Burns was dominant, racking up eight points to lead all defensemen. Now he gets another showdown, this time with the Predators ghost of Norris contenders present (Shea Weber) and future (Roman Josi).

Key number: 6/8—Number of first-round series you could have predicted correctly by simply picking the team with the best regular season score-adjusted Corsi, the stat that consistently ends up being one of the best predictors of future success that we have. The only two exceptions: the two teams in this series. (But both still ranked highly: the Predators 52.7 percent was tied for fourth, while the Sharks' mark of 52.1 percent tied for eighth.)

Old YouTube clip to get you fired up: The two teams play the only overtime contest in their playoff history, from the opening game of their 2007 series.

(Yeah, I know that's not an especially great highlight. Look, there's not a ton of history here, and most of the YouTube results for "Sharks Predators" point to stuff like this.)

Prediction: The underdog run ends here. Sharks in five.

Bonus prediction that is oddly specific: The Predators become this year's annual "nontraditional market that everyone starts describing as the loudest arena in the league even though it doesn't actually sound any louder than anywhere else".