It’s hard to imagine Pekka Rinne having two bad games in a row.
Thursday night in Winnipeg, Rinne rebounded form a dreadful Game 3 performance and made 32 saves to help the Nashville Predators even their series with the Jets with a 2-1 win.
“Something we really focused on [was] playing solid defensively, which we did,” Rinne said. “Amazing team effort, we played a really solid game throughout the 60 minutes 
and obviously big win for us.”
Rinne had a shut out going until Patrik Laine scored with just under a minute left in regulation.
Ryan Hartman and P.K Subban scored for the Predators.
“I think the biggest thing is we had full commitment through our lineup to play defense,” Subban said. “In our zone when bounces didn’t go our way, we worked the puck out of the zone. We got in the neutral zone, we got pucks deep, we forechecked when we needed to and we paid attention to the details.”
For Subban, it was his third goal of the post season, all three coming in a three-game scoring streak.
“He’s got a bomb, and he lets it go with time and space,” the Predators’ Scott Hartnell said. “He’s really accurate with it too. He’s scored a lot of goals this year and created a lot of opportunities for our forwards with rebounds, tips, screens, things like that.”
The series heads back to Nashville this weekend with the series tied at 2-2.
“I thought probably first and foremost, I just thought our attitude was right. Kind of feel it this morning in the skate, in the meetings. I thought we just competed a little bit harder. We were a little smarter with our game but competed a little bit harder as well,” Nashville head coach Peter Laviolette said after the game.
[WATCH: All Predators vs. Jets highlights | Complete Predators vs. Jets series coverage]
Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves in the loss.
“Your goal on the road is to definitely steal one,” Hellebuyck said. “We did our job, they did their job. There’s a reason we’re 1 and 2 in the West. It’s two good teams going at it. You’ve got to expect this is going to be a battle right to the end.”
Blake Wheeler was asked what the Jets need to do differently heading into Game 5.
“Nothing, we don’t change anything. I think our group has responded all year long, and not for a second did we think coming into this series we were going to breeze through it,” Wheeler said. “We expected it to be a battle, and throughout this whole thing there’s going to be learning experiences and ups and downs. It’s how you respond to it. We’ve responded incredibly well all year. It has not been an easy year – a lot of adversity all year – and we’ve answered the bell every single time, so I’m excited about Game 5.”
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