NASHVILLE, TENN. The Nashville Predators can console themselves knowing they aggressively made moves in an all-out effort to win the Stanley Cup. Now they will spend the off-season finding out just how costly those decisions will be after coming up short in the Western Conference semifinals for a second straight year.

The Predators lost 2-1 to Phoenix on Monday night and dropped the semifinals in five games a game less than a year ago when they lost to eventual Western champ Vancouver.

We had high expectations as an organization, but we didnt get it done, coach Barry Trotz said after the loss. The teams that made the playoffs in the West, everyone had a legitimate chance to represent the West and win the Cup. There are no poor hockey teams this year. That is parity. That is the NHL.

The Predators showed their commitment to winning by sending a second-round pick in Junes draft and young forward Blake Geoffrion to Montreal in February for defenceman Hal Gill, and they followed that at the trade deadline by sending this years first-round pick to Buffalo for centre Paul Gaustad.

The moves helped a roster that started the season as the NHLs youngest roster and a group that remained the leagues second-youngest coming out of the All-Star break. Nashville also welcomed back wayward forward Alexander Radulov in March, four years after he bolted back home to Russia to the Kontinental Hockey League.

All the trades resulted in Nashville finishing with 104 points, the third-highest in franchise history. The Predators grabbed the No. 4 seed and finished ahead of Detroit in the final standings. They also beat the Red Wings in the playoffs all for the first time, which made the quick loss to the Coyotes that much more stunning.

It is tough to swallow, said goalie Pekka Rinne, a two-time Vezina Trophy finalist. When you lose a series, it goes by so fast. It is over even before you realize it. It is hard to realize right now. We played a lot of good hockey this year, and now it is done.

The Predators thought the path to the Cup was wide open with Detroit, Chicago, Vancouver and San Jose all gone. Those teams all had ousted Nashville in the post-season.

Instead, the NHLs best power-play unit in the regular season fizzled in the post-season. They went 0 of 23 on home ice, and they never could solve Phoenix goalie Mike Smith or the Coyotes, who simply beat the Predators at the defensive, grinding style theyve used since hitting the ice in 1998.

Were past the expansion stage. Were past that, and youve got to go through these hard lessons sometimes, Trotz said.

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Chemistry doesn’t concoct playoff magic for Predators; tough choices for roster ahead