What will make or break the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues?

The St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks are set to do battle to determine which team will represent the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Final. The Sharks played in back-to-back Western Conference Finals in 2010 and 2011. They won just one game in both series combined. The Blues haven’t played in the Western Conference Final since 2001 when they lost in five games to the Colorado Avalanche.

Both of these teams have been known for past playoff struggles and both have demons to exorcise. The Sharks missed the postseason in 2015 after blowing a 3-0 lead to the Los Angeles Kings in the first-round of the 2014 postseason. The Blues lost in the first-round of the playoffs three straight years before their run this season.

With a series win, one team will finally change their narrative while another will spend an entire summer again wondering ‘what if?’

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Here are three things that will make or break the Sharks and Blues.

San Jose Sharks

1. The power play. The Sharks have the best power play left in the playoffs (30.9 percent) led by the first group of Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Brent Burns, Patrick Marleau and Logan Couture. A dominant power play can change the way an opponent plays even strength forcing the Blues to play cautious in order to not take a penalty. In order to win this series the Sharks will need their power play to stay hot. The Blues have averaged 11.21 penalty minutes per-game throughout the postseason, sixth-worst in the NHL amongst 16 playoff teams. Their penalty kill has a 79.5 percent success rate, ranking eighth in the postseason.

2. Captain Pavelski. Couture leads the Sharks in points with 17 this postseason. Burns has controlled a lot of the flow for the Sharks from the blueline with 15 points in 12 games. But really Pavelski has been this team’s most important player. The Sharks have won all eight games where Pavelski has picked up a point. In the four games he hasn’t picked up a point, the team has lost. This is his group now and you can tell the team feels a boost when he scores.

3. Martin Jones’ experience. Sharks goaltender Martin Jones hasn’t been spectacular, but he hasn’t needed to be either. He’s been in net for all eight wins by the Sharks (and all four losses) and hasn’t needed to be pulled once this playoffs. He’s mostly been steady, but he’s also had a few lapses. The Sharks are 0-3 in overtime this playoffs, and while Jones can’t be faulted for the all goals he’s yet to make one more stop than his opponent in a ‘next goal wins’ situation. This is Jones’ first year as a full-time starter in the NHL and this is the most pressure he’s faced.

St. Louis Blues

1. Hitch’s itchy trigger finger. Goaltender Brian Elliott has won two rounds, but there are still questions on whether coach Ken Hitchcock believes he’s the right choice to lead this team to a Stanley Cup Final. After St. Louis lost Game 6 against the Dallas Stars, Hitchcock poured fuel on this fire, saying he’d “sleep” on a Game 7 decision. This ended up being Elliott who also beat the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 7 of the first-round. If Elliott struggles at some point, will Hitchcock counter with Allen? Or has some of this perceived drama just been a way to motivate Elliott? How Hitchcock deals with his goaltenders could determine the outcome of the series for St. Louis.

2. Rolling four lines. The Blues are well equipped to handle the Sharks and their structure. San Jose coach Peter DeBoer likes to roll four lines and he’s used his depth as a major weapon this playoff. Six players on the Blues have reached double digits in points and there’s really no discernable difference between St. Louis’ first line and their third line. Each of their top-three centers (Jori Lehtera, Alex Steen and Paul Stastny) could be top-six forwards on most teams in the NHL. Vladimir Tarasenko is the best goal scorer left in the playoffs. Scottie Upshall has given St. Louis a big-time energy boost on the fourth line, centered by Kyle Brodziak. At this time of year you need depth at forward and the Blues have a lot of this.

3. The rookies. Forward Robby Fabbri has played his best hockey of the year with 13 points in 14 games. Defenseman Colton Parayko has been a tower of strength with five points while averaging 20:19 of action. These youngsters have been a major reason why the Blues have closed out two of the top teams in the Western Conference.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper