NHL Playoffs 2012: Down 2-0 Will Nashville Predators or St. Louis Blues Recover?

They were the two logical favorites to face off for the Campbell Bowl when the Western Conference semifinals were set. And yet, the Nashville Predators and the St. Louis Blues each have a little less than 72 hours to decide how they are going to start recompensing a 2-0 deficit in their respective series.

Keeping with the topmost trend in the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Blues dropped a 5-2 decision Monday night versus the Los Angeles Kings at the Scottrade Center, where they went 30-6-5 during the regular season. The scene will shuffle over to the Staples Center for the third chapter on Thursday.

The Predators are raring to return to their home masses at Bridgestone Arena for Game 3 on Wednesday, three nights after the Phoenix Coyotes raised the upper hand to 2-0 with a 5-3 victory.

Pekka Rinne, the NHL’s winningest regular-season netminder with 43, indubitably has yet to bring his stingiest stuff to the Phoenix series. After all, the nine goals he has authorized so far in this matchup equals the nine he surrendered in Nashville’s five-game dismissal of Detroit in the first round.

Of course, Coyotes counterpart Mike Smith has been somewhat uncharacteristic himself, allowing three goals apiece in Games 1 and 2.

On the other side of the bracket, St. Louis’ Brian Elliott has yet to follow up on his league-leading 1.56 goals-against average and .940 save percentage. In two postseason bouts with Los Angeles, his GAA is barely under 4.00 while he has logged a .857 save percentage.

It is worth noting, though, that Elliott did not let the Kings score in the third period. And he managed that on Monday in defiance of any rust that might have come with relative inactivity.

After incurring a 4-0 deficit within the opening frame, the Blues thoroughly outplayed the Kings over the final 40 minutes of Game 2.

The scoring differential in that span was a somewhat negligible 2-1 in favor of St. Louis, but the Blues did go on a 24-5 run in the shooting gallery. And they drew themselves three unanswered power plays within the final 10 minutes of the closing stanza.

Granted, they did not convert on any of those overlapping chances, even with a pair of five-on-three segments. But as late as they have done it, Elliott and his skating mates have broken their ice against the eighth-seeded Kings, who are now 5-0 on the road in the postseason.

The Predators, who boasted the NHL’s most prolific power play in the 2011-12 regular season, have mustered three man-up strikes at Smith’s expense. They were a perfect two-for-two in Game 2 and are three-for-seven in the series.

But for all that, Nashville has yet to harbor a lead and has tallied four all-for-naught equalizers against Phoenix.

At even strength, the Coyotes have outscored the Predators, 8-3. Closing that gap could go a long way towards filling the pothole in the series for Nashville, if not usurping the lead by Game 5.

The Blues, on the other hand, just want to solve Kings stopper Jonathan Quick by any means available.

It would not hurt their cause to get point-based playmaker Alex Pietrangelo, who was a last-minute scratch for Game 2 and is still listed as day-to-day, back in the lineup. But they also need forwards not named David Backes and Andy McDonald to pick up their proficiency.

And they will need Elliott to return to where he was in the regular season and the tail-end of the San Jose series. Quick leads all remaining playoff goaltenders in every key category and shows no signs of crumbling. Therefore, the Blues will need to make every mistake they can muster out of him meaningful.

The goalies in the other series could both stand to cut down on their costly errors. But the Preds also have offensive personnel who could stand to start exploiting Smith a little more, particularly Alexander Radulov, Sergei Kostitsyn and David Legwand.

If those players step up and join in, Nashville will have better odds of denying the Coyotes the opportunity to flex some of their strengths, such as safeguarding 1-0 leads and leading after the first and second period.

In the regular season, Phoenix had the NHL’s fourth-best record when drawing first blood at 33-4-6. Nashville was second best at 35-3-4.

The Coyotes were 22-2-2, second only to Boston and Philadelphia, when leading after 20 minutes. They went 33-1-0 when entering the third period with a lead.

But when trailing first, Phoenix was near the bottom of the league leaderboard with a 9-23-7 record. Ditto when losing at the first (3-18-2) and second intermission (4-22-5).

Put two and two together and it’s suddenly less surprising that the first two installments in this series have gone to the Coyotes. But that could be rendered moot if they are pushed back on their heels in the tone-setting phases of upcoming games.

The Blues could do the same to the Kings, who were likewise bottom-feeders when it came to comebacks during regular-season games.

It should not be a shocker if the mighty Central Division still manages to send both of its last two representatives to the Western Conference finals. But based on their respective opponents, especially with Quick leading every key goaltending category in the playoffs and Phoenix coming off a longer and tougher bout with Chicago, the Preds may have slightly better odds.