Predators at Blues game one morning open thread

Let’s get this out of the way first: we were all rooting for Nashville in round one. It went deeper than the usual “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” mindset; while it was nice to see the Blackhawks swept out of the playoffs, it was even better to see the underdog team do it. No one picked Nashville to win, let alone win like that.

While it was nice to see Patrick Kane sad (as it always is), the Preds aren’t the underdogs anymore. They held the Blackhawks to three goals for the entire series. The only goaltender who has played better than Jake Allen this postseason has been Pekka Rinne. The Blues allowed a huge number of shots against the Wild, and Allen bailed them out. Will that hold this round? Will they be able to get Rinne to crack?

The Blues might’ve finished above the Preds in the standings, but that came down to the wire. These are two close teams; hopefully that’ll lead to a close series but not the Preds first trip to the Western Conference Finals. Not this year.

This is your morning open thread. Check back for your usual gameday goodies, and get yourselves mentally prepped for tonight. And whatever you do, don’t read the pundits - if you do, ignore them.