from Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

If someone had told the Blues that a transition season that also saw a coaching change and the trade of a top defenseman would last until Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals, they probably would have taken it.

But when the postseason arrived at that dead end Sunday at Bridgestone Arena, where Nashville won 3-1 to claim the best-of-seven series 4-2, the Blues were still left with regrets.

They couldn’t find a way to win any of their three games in Nashville, they were held to just three goals on the road and the power play was abysmal both home and away.

Those were some of the reasons that in a series the team labeled as “winnable,” the Predators were able to punch their ticket to the conference finals for the first time in their history, denying the Blues a second straight trip to the third round.

“First off a lot of credit to Nashville, congratulations to them, they played a great series and they’re a real strong team, but it hurts right now for us,” Blues coach Mike Yeo said. “We felt like there were moments in this series where we could have grabbed it. There was times where we felt like it was winnable, like we could have come out on the other side. They definitely deserve to be moving on, but ... it stinks, I hate it, I hate to say it.”

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