Observations of a Blues fan here. The Preds seem to have lost their identity in this series. They are playing much more tentatively than normal. Their D-men are not being nearly as aggressive as they have been all season long. The whole team seems to be reactive rather than proactive in their approach. I've never seen Rinne come unglued the way he has against Winnipeg and. overall, team discipline is seriously lacking. I hate to say it but perhaps they are a bit intimidated by the Jets, especially Byfuglien, for whom the Preds apparently have no answer judging by the way he ran roughshod over them on Tuesday night.
It's likely from my perspective that the winner of this series plays in the Cup finals. In order to advance, Nashville must find a way to get pucks on net more often and definitely need to create more traffic in front of Hellebuyck (who has shown himself to be very vulnerable to giving up mucker-type goals). Winnipeg is dominating play in the neutral zone and creating a lot of odd-man rushes as a result. Nashville needs to turn the tables on them in game 4 to even this series. If they can't do it tonight, I think this series is over.
I know much of this is obvious to everyone but needs to be stated nonetheless. One thing for sure, this is one helluva entertaining series to watch for someone without a rooting interest.