Game 7. The ultimate match, right?
Not so this time in Nashville.
All the anticipation and excitement in Nashville evaporated in a 5-1 loss by the Predators to the Winnipeg Jets.
Paul Stastny and Mark Scheifele each struck for two goals in the Jets’ win.
“I knew we had a good team, and I knew that if we were going to do anything, you’re going to have to play Nashville in the second round,” Stastny said. “I think this is what you knew it was going to be, and we came out on the winning side.”
This one was over early after Pekka Rinne allowed two soft goals on bad angles and shots he should have stopped.
Rinne was pulled after the first goals of the game and the Predators may have just thrown in the towel at that point.
“I obviously feel very much responsible for our season ending at this point,” said Rinne, who made five saves. “Tough. Tough to swallow. Tough to understand. You know, I can’t point on anything. Felt good and no injuries, totally healthy and total ups and downs throughout the playoffs. And obviously, you know, the biggest moment of the season, it’s a terrible feeling. You let your teammates down, and that’s what happened tonight.”
PK Subban scored the lone Preds goal and went back to the bench fired up and tried to fire up his club but it was of little value.
Nashville was skating in slush and the Jets were flying on new ice all night.
“It was just great to see our group play our game,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. “That was our goal coming into this one, that win or lose, we wanted to play our game. It’s what has given us success all year. That was it. Keep it pretty simple, have a good first period and play our game all night.”
Tyler Myers opened the scoring with the first bad angle shot from the right of the net and Stastny added one form the other side to put the Jets up 2-0.
“In games like this, sometimes you don’t want to shoot from everywhere, but I think when you’re in tight like that you want to shoot it,” Stastny said. “Just because those are always kind of those awkward saves for goalies, and they give up rebounds.”
The Jets now face the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final.
“It certainly lived up to the extremes. I thought I would be able to describe the games to you better,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said after the game. “If I have to go back and tell you how they went, they’re going to seem so unusual. But I thought for us anyway, in terms of how we played Game 2 and this game from kind of a start-to-finish game, were our best games.”
[WATCH: All Jets vs. Predators Game 7 highlights | Complete Predators vs. Jets series coverage]
Juuse Saros made 14 saves in relief of Rinne.
“I love this group. We have a great group of guys, a lot of great players. Obviously, we’re all disappointed right now,” Roman Josi said after the loss. “But it was such a fun regular season, such a fun year with those guys. I’m really proud of the way we played. We’re such a tight group. We’re a big family. Right now, it’s hard to look forward, but right now we have all the players to be successful. But obviously a little disappointed right now.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.