Predators at Blues game five preview: Lose and stay home

I appreciate the tone of the Blues’ official website today. This whole article sounds very familiar.

An appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs - which Blues fans have come to pretty much take for granted because it happens nearly every year - was suddenly in doubt.

But did the Blues roll over? Did they say "things aren't going right, so let's forget it and try again next year?"

They could have. But they didn't.

Instead, they rallied.

The club that was out of the playoff picture at one point in January climbed to a third-place finish in the Western Conference with 99 points and then eliminated the second-seeded Minnesota Wild in the first round of the playoffs.

Where have I heard this before? Why does this sound like something I should know?

Oh.

And you know, it’s not done yet. The Blues do play well when they have extra motivation in the form of elimination. It’s just a shame that they require motivation of this level so often to be successful. Being down 3-1 in a playoff series is not ideal.

This quote from Scottie Upshall is pretty telling:

"We're focused on being the better team come Friday, being a team that Nashville hasn't seen play yet. Because I still think we have another level. The fourth game is always the hardest to win and we realize that, and so do they. We're going to be at our best. It's going to be a good fight on Friday."

If you are aware that you have a gear that the Predators haven’t seen yet, why haven’t they seen it? I’d argue that they have, but they haven’t seen it for an extended period of time. Instead, the Blues are the better team on ice in starts and fits. The pressure changes pretty consistently.

Tonight could be it for the season. Or Sunday could be it. Or next week. Or who knows. I’m not counting them out, but I’m not going to inflate my expectations in my mind. Three months ago, the thought of playoffs was out of the question. It’s the end of the first week in May. They could be playing better now, or they never could’ve played well to begin with.

I’ll take what I can get, I guess.