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Posted at 12:50 PM EST. 

OT included. Despite losing 2-1 in Game 4 in Nashville, it was the first game of the series that the Blue Notes actually outplayed the Predators. The hockey writers in St. Louis are not ready to write the Blues obituary just yet, citing that the Blues have not been outplayed in this series. That’s the funny thing about sports. Two people can watch the exact same thing and have two completely different perspectives. The two people involved are usually one fan and one unbiased view. The point is, every fan thinks their team is better than it really is and that’s the case with the Blues’ writers. The Blues were completely dominated in their series victory over Minnesota. In the five games, they were the better team in one period. Against Nashville, the Blue Notes have had better moments but not many. In the Blues only victory in this series, they had five PP’s to the Preds none. That’s why St. Louis won. Five on five, they don’t score often. Five-on-five, the Blues have been dominated to a high degree in these playoffs in eight out of nine games. If they dig down deep and play their finest, of course they can win here because it’s one lousy game where anything is possible. However, if we’re sticking to playing value, Nashville must be played.

No question that the Preds are aware that they dodged a bullet last game. It’s not that they deserved to lose but they weren’t at their best and now this team with a sudden killer instinct has the Blue Notes by the throat. How do we know they have a killer instinct? Well, they won two in Chicago to open the playoffs and didn’t let them back in it. Up 3-0 against the Blackhawks, Nashville buried them for good in Game 4. After a split in St. Louis to grab home ice advantage, the Preds held serve and now they have their first chance of eliminating the Blues. Nashville figures to be better here in an attempt to crush any hope that the Blues may have. Nashville is so hungry and so determined. It’s unreasonable to expect a team to be at their very best every single game and Nashville is coming off a game in which they weren’t at their best. With the West Final in their sights, the Preds will leave nothing on the table here and likely put forth their best effort. The Preds best effort should defeat the Blues best effort almost every time and that’s more than enough to prompt us to pull the trigger.   

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