ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - After Nashville and Edmonton took their second-round series openers in remarkably similar fashion Wednesday, St. Louis and Anaheim are under pressure to respond in Game 2.
Two road teams blew a couple of two-goals leads in the third period, but then got a couple of fortunate bounces and scored a couple of opportunistic goals in the Western Conference semifinals. Both series are back at it tonight with the stakes raised for the home teams, which face the prospect of a quick series hole.
Nashville is unbeaten in the postseason, while St. Louis is still looking for a rhythm. The first two periods of Game 1 looked much like the Blues' entire first-round series against Minnesota, with St. Louis getting massively outshot and goals coming sparingly.
The Blues' top scorers have largely been silent so far in the playoffs: Vladimir Tarasenko has just one playoff goal after scoring 39 in the regular season. But Blues coach Mike Yeo isn't concerned.
"Again, he's getting chances," Yeo said. "That doesn't mean that we don't want him scoring goals. We've got to find a way, and that's on us. But there's not much concern. My concern would be if his head wasn't in the right place, and I've got no concerns about that."
It's not just Tarasenko. Second-line mainstays Patrik Berglund and David Perron are still searching for their first postseason goals and Jaden Schwartz and Alexander Steen are the only two forwards with multiple playoff goals.
Face-off struggles may have something to do with that. Nashville won 38-of-61 faceoffs (62 percent) in Game 1, including a massive 16-1 advantage in the second period.
"We have to be better at that," Yeo said. "Certainly they went in there and they dominated that area. I thought they dominated a lot of the 1-on-1 battles in the game, too, so they were better than us in all the small areas of the game and that's why they won."