The Phoenix Coyotes and Nashville Predators have become the feel-good stories of the Western Conference playoffs, finally breaking through with big victories over storied franchises in the first round.

Both teams were underdogs in the first round but shut down their opponents in impressive fashion. They proved they can both score, hit and defend as well as any team left in the field.

”We really are mirror images of each other,” Coyotes general manager Don Maloney told the Associated Press. ”We play a similar style, very good defense and work ethic, and you don’t get a free night with Nashville. They’ll be tough games. This will be an interesting series.”

Phoenix, which won its division for the first time ever this year, fended off the Chicago Blackhawks in six games to win its first series since 1987. Much of the credited goes to goaltender Mike Smith, who had a crucical 39-save performance in Game Six. Despite being pounded by Chicago’s 40 shots per night, he had a .950 save percentage in the series.

No surprise considering his marvelous regular season included a .930 save percentage.

”We’ve obviously got to do what we can to generate chances in front of Smith because he’s been great for them,” Predators captain Shea Weber told the AP. ”He’s a big part of their success.”

Similar story for Nashville. It bounced the Detroit Red Wings in impressive fashion thanks to goaltender Pekka Renne. The Predators broke Detroit’s 23-game home win streak and easily took the series 4-1 by winning both games on the road. Renne surrendered just four goals in the final three games of the series. He has four shutouts against the Coyotes and is 8-5-0 lifetime.

He was named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy for the second-consecutive season after posting the best save percentage (.944) in Phoenix playoff history.

”He’s an unbelievable goalie, just an athletic guy that competes as hard as anyone out there,” Smith told the AP. ”We’re going to have to elevate our game, try to get as much traffic, people and pucks to the net as we can, and hopefully we’ll find a way to get a pass in.”

Home ice hasn’t been much an advantage this playoff season, and Bovada is favoring Nashville by 1 1/2 goals on the road, with a -115 moneyline.