This is an L.A. team very comfortable away from home. Jonathan Quick provided the best season by a goaltender in franchise history, and was able to out-perform the terrific efforts of Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider in the first round while posting a 1.59 goals against average and .953 save percentage. He shut out the Blues twice in the regular season, finishing with one goal allowed in 184 minutes and a .989 save percentage. St. Louis' and Los Angeles' bluelines are similar, and while Drew Doughty was slow to get back into playing shape following his contract holdout and early-season upper body injury, the improvement in his own half of the ice in the second half of the season has been remarkable.
His skating ability, decision making and poise was on display in the Vancouver series, and despite the discrepancy in the statistics should be seen as Pietrangelo's equal, if not slightly superior. Willie Mitchell, Matt Greene and Rob Scuderi comprise one of the Western Conference's best shot blocking trios, while Slava Voynov and Alec Martinez have excelled in the minutes they absorbed from Jack Johnson's trade to Columbus. Both are capable of improving L.A.'s power play, which scored nine times during a four-game stretch against San Jose and Vancouver that bridged the regular season and the playoffs but has been unsuccessful in the 14 attempts since. The Kings' penalty killing has been dominant all season long and was only outscored 3-2 by the Canucks' power play in the first round.
Mike Richards, Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar are all intuitive penalty killers with the ability to read plays and pick off passes for shorthanded breakaways. While Jeff Carter hasn't been very productive in his time in Los Angeles, he spreads out opposing teams, allowing more space and opportunity for the Brown-Kopitar-Justin Williams line. Brown finished second in the league in hits, and the clean shoulder-to-shoulder check he leveled on Henrik Sedin in Game 3 shows that his physicality is capable of shifting the momentum in the series. He's a representative of the grinding, effective-along-the-boards, puck possession and cycle game that Los Angeles is most comfortable playing.
X-Factor: Jeff Carter, Los Angeles. Held scoreless since deflecting a puck to Dustin Penner for the game winner late in Game 1 against Vancouver, Carter was practically invisible over the four remaining games. He and Mike Richards will be welcoming Penner to the second line to begin the series, and it's important that the three are able to establish some production early so that the second line left wing role doesn't revert back into a revolving door. Dwight King was effective next to Carter and Richards late in the regular season but has slotted down a line; it's now up to both Carter and Richards to get things going and use their skill to beat the difficult-to-penetrate Blues defense.
Prediction: Los Angeles in 6.
Phoenix Coyotes (3) vs Nashville Predators (4)
Season Series: Phoenix: 2-1-1
Phoenix, March/April (Playoffs): 9-6-4 (4-2)
Nashville, March/April (Playoffs): 11-2-4 (4-1)
Outlook: Contrary to the widely shared narrative of the past several years, this is by no means a Coyotes team that has come out of obscurity. This is a team with a well carved out identity that, while perhaps a year behind the Predators, is also looking to take that next step in the franchise's direction. They are 9-2 in their past 11 games, with the two losses coming in overtime. Fortunately and unexpectedly, Mike Smith improved on the minutes in net provided by Ilya Bryzgalov, and was the MVP of the Chicago series, finishing with a 1.81 goals against average and .950 save percentage over six games. He wasn't nominated for the Vezina Trophy like Nashville's Pekka Rinne, but was easily playing the best hockey of his career deep in the season, and we all know what a hot goalie can do to a playoff series.
An underrated pickup by general manager Don Maloney at the trading deadline, Antoine Vermette led the team with four goals in the Chicago series, while unsung hero Gilbert Brule provided a surge with two goals and three points against the Blackhawks. Radim Vrbata's comfort was affected by Martin Hanzal's injury last series, and his 35 regular-season goals suggest he's overdue for his first playoff tally. The foundation of Smith's and Phoenix's success lies in its blue line, where defenseman Keith Yandle has been joined by Oliver Ekman-Larsson as two of the more dynamic young offensive-minded defensemen in the Western Conference. The Coyotes' penalty kill allowed one goal on 19 opportunities in the Chicago series.
The upward trajectory of the franchise, the impending contractual negotiations with Shea Weber and Ryan Suter, the sturdiness of Barry Trotz, David Poille's crafty deadline moves and import of Alexander Radulov – everything suggests this is a Nashville team well prepared to venture past the second round for the first time. A five-game defeat of the Detroit Red Wings in which they won twice at Joe Louis Arena indicates that Nashville is ready and capable of winning a series in which it doesn't have home-ice advantage. Pekka Rinne went 3-0 when facing at least 37 shots in the Detroit series, and any quality in contrast Rinne or Smith has over the other may be the determining factor in advancement.
The Preds can certainly improve on their power play, which was only 2-22 against the Red Wings but led the league in the regular season at 21.6 percent. Radulov was the team's leading scorer in the first round and helped boost the unsung contributions from 21-year-old rookie Gabriel Bourque, whose three goals in five games were a spike from the seven goals and 19 points over 43 regular-season games. Paul Gaustad won 57.3 percent of his faceoffs during an injury-stuttered regular season and as a depth center serves a valuable role for a playoff team. Weber and Suter were sound defensively in the first round and are the keys toward Nashville recapturing its power play success from the regular season. Success seems to always find rookie defenseman Ryan Ellis, who cracked the lineup in the final three games of the Detroit series and has skill and soft hands on the blue line. He won two Memorial Cups and OHL Championships with Windsor in addition to Team Canada gold medals at the World Junior Championships, Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, World U-18s and World U-17s.
X-Factor: Martin Hanzal, Phoenix. He missed half of the Chicago series, leading to the drop in Vrbata's production. Realigned once again with Vrbata and Ray Whitney – who turns 40 right around when Game 6 is to be played – Hanzal will be right at home in a second-round series with his punishing physicality and net-crashing ability. We've always seen the 6-5 25-year-old with surprisingly smooth hands as the gears that allowed Phoenix's first line to operate, and if he can step back into the lineup to raise the play of the wingers around him, the Coyotes will receive a huge boost against the Predators.
Prediction: Nashville in 6.
