from Joe Rexrode of The Tennessean,

The Nashville Predators were down a man for 11 of 60 minutes in their first loss of the postseason and never had a single power play, but they did not complain.

Well, not exactly. Peter Laviolette may have wanted to, but he got out of there Friday night after a 70-second press conference. Never one to elaborate on much, Laviolette was itching to bolt the scene of the Predators’ 3-2 loss to St. Louis in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.

He did drop this nugget before departing: “Once we were done killing penalties, I thought we played pretty well.”

And Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis, the would-be hero before his team blew a 2-1 lead in the third period, had this when asked if the Preds were undisciplined: “Ask the refs.”

“It's disappointing to be up halfway through the third there (and lose),” Ellis said. “But we've got to stay out of the box, maybe get a call here and there, and just capitalize on our chances.”

OK, that’s definitely some light shade thrown at the refs. And that’s fine, whether it’s deserved or not. In fact, if I were the Predators I’d keep mentioning the disparity — it was officially 23 penalty minutes for Nashville and 2 for St. Louis — all the way up to the 2 p.m. puck drop for Sunday’s Game 3 at Bridgestone Arena.

Who cares if you get criticized for whining? This is the playoffs, a 1-1 series, and campaigning for calls in the next game is fair game.

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