Memorable Games: Jets vs Predators - Game 7 (May 10, 2018)

Many hockey players play the situation out in their driveway growing up: Game 7, winner moves on, the loser goes home.
It's a whole different animal when it's about to happen for real.
"I think the night before when you're getting ready for bed, you start to think of the implications and what the game means - little butterflies and some nerves," said Adam Lowry ahead of Game 7 between the Winnipeg Jets and the Nashville Predators. "It was a little harder getting to sleep that night."

THE LEAD UP
That night was May 9, 2018. The Jets had arrived in Nashville, checking in to the same hotel they had stayed in the entire series. It was part of a winning formula to that point in the series, and while some are more superstitious than others, the team's routine wasn't about to be changed at this point.
During the regular season, the Jets had one win in three games at Bridgestone Arena. In the second round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Winnipeg had earned wins in Nashville in Game 1 and Game 5.

To do it one more time, they'd have to quickly erase the memory of a 4-0 defeat in Game 6 at Bell MTS Place on May 7, which was Winnipeg's first chance to win the series.
The one thing in the Jets' favour was one extra day between games to fully wash that loss away.
"They had a couple of days where nobody outside of the city of Winnipeg was giving the Jets any chance at all to win Game 7 on the road inside Bridgestone Arena," recalls TSN's Brian Munz.
As the old saying goes - that's why they play the games.
When Lowry's alarm went off on game day, he began his routine like it was any other day. However, he knew it wasn't.
"You wake up that morning and you go through morning skate," he said. "As the day progresses, the nerves start to come back."
THE START
Head coach Paul Maurice's message to the team was simple, even though for a lot of them, it was their first experience playing in a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"The two things we want to do in this game is play fast - you've heard me say that enough times - but also enjoy playing the game," Maurice said. "Make plays, play with some confidence, and some courage."
The Jets killed off a high-sticking penalty to Andrew Copp 3:08 into the first period, then carried that momentum into the first goal of the game.
Tyler Myers pinched down the right-side wall and took a drop pass from Nikolaj Ehlers, with his eyes up, Myers fired the puck toward the net from the goal line and it squeaked between the near post and Pekka Rinne's left skate - which was jammed up against the bar.

Winnipeg had the ever important first goal.
"We had good jump and made plays. It was right through the whole bench," said Maurice. "The first goal is huge. It probably got us the second goal."
The second goal came just 2:06 after Myers opened the scoring. Paul Stastny chased down a deflected dump in from Brandon Tanev and found himself with some space behind the Nashville net.
The veteran stepped in front, his initial backhand stopped, but his second found twine to make it 2-0.
"We had a really good mix of veteran leadership that was able to calm us down," said Lowry. "You look at the game Stastny had and how he stepped up and other guys like that. You just kind of followed their lead."

It was a dream start for the Jets - who chased Rinne from the net after two goals on seven shots - but Nashville responded before the end of the period.
P.K. Subban's one-timer on Nashville's second power play of the game cut the lead to 2-1.
Nobody knew it at the time, but that was the last goal Hellebuyck would allow in the game.
"We knew we had to play our game. When we got off to a good start and we were playing our way. We felt strong in that," said Hellebuyck, who finished with 36 saves. "We felt very confident. It's fun playing that way."
RESTORING THE TWO-GOAL LEAD
Through the majority of the middle frame, the Jets and Predators were in a tug-of-war for momentum.
The Jets wanted their two-goal lead back while Nashville was desperately trying to even the score.
With 2:50 to go in the second period, one of the teams got their wish.
Captain Blake Wheeler picked up a loose puck on the right wing and with Kyle Connor tied up with two Predators - Filip Forsberg and Mattias Ekholm - the seam to Mark Scheifele on the left side opened up.
As he has so many times in his career, Wheeler hit that seam pass to Scheifele, who snapped a one-timer past Juuse Saros to put the Jets up 3-1.
"To get a two-goal lead with a couple minutes left in the second period, it was a big boost for us," said Wheeler. "It allowed our group to breathe a little bit. I think we were pretty loose all game. I didn't see us checking the clock waiting for it to count down."

Wheeler scored the eventual game-winner in a momentum turning Game 3 back in Winnipeg a little over a week earlier and his assist on Scheifele's Game 7 goal gave both forwards 10 points in the series at that point.
"We have really good leadership in our room. They prepared themselves," Maurice said. "We follow our leader, we really do."
With 20 minutes to go in regulation, the Jets held a 3-1 lead and could book their ticket to the Western Conference Final if they held on.
CLOSING IT OUT
All season long, the Jets were the league's best team when leading after 40 minutes. With a 42-1-1 record in that scenario, the Jets were confident, but Stastny knew they couldn't take their foot off the gas pedal.
"You can't ever relax out there, especially in Game 7. You have to keep trying to be aggressive, keep trying to score more," he said. "The right mindset is you have to think about what you have to do, not what they're thinking about. It's easier said than done. You never relax, you just want to go out there and score the next one."
Nashville did all it could to prevent that from happening. In the first 11:55 of the period, the Predators outshot the Jets 12-2, but Hellebuyck continued to stand tall.
When Ryan Johansen took a slashing penalty with 8:28 to go in regulation, the Jets capitalized.
Patrik Laine's initial one-timer from the left circle was stopped by Saros, but Stastny was waiting on the doorstep to slip the rebound through the Nashville goaltender's legs, increasing the Jets lead to 4-1.

"It's a tight game that could go either way," said Lowry. "Then Stastny makes it 4-1. That's when it sinks in that you pretty much have this game locked up."
With 2:33 to go in regulation, Scheifele finished the series off with an empty net goal that at the time seemed like the final stroke of the paint brush on a Game 7 masterpiece.
It also put him in the history books.
That goal, which made the score 5-1, was Scheifele's seventh road goal of the series - the most in one series in NHL history. Prior to that, he was in a four-way tie with Sidney Crosby, Bill Barber, and Gilbert Perreault.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, even Maurice had to smile a bit.
"You win 5-1 so of course you enjoyed the game, but I liked the way we played," said Maurice. "I liked that we could come out, in a Game 7 on the road against Nashville, and play the way we played.
"That's why I was in a good mood behind the bench."
WINNING THE SERIES
Looking back on the series a couple years later, Lowry - who played 14:54 in Game 7, including 2:17 on the penalty kill, the most among forwards - could easily see the growth in his game compared to his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut in 2015 against Anaheim.
"The first series against Anaheim, we were ecstatic because it was the first time the Jets were back in the playoffs, and I got to score my first playoff goal," he said. "At the same time, there were mistakes made that you usually don't make. Maybe it was the pressure that gets to you.
"I think just dealing with the pressure and dealing with different responsibilities, the more playoff games you get, the more comfortable you get in those situations. You're going to make the right decision, you're going to make the right play nine times out of 10."

The Jets carried that momentum into Game 1 of the Western Conference Final against the Vegas Golden Knights two nights later. While Winnipeg would ultimately fall in five games to Vegas, the entire run is something Lowry will always remember.
"That whole experience, those couple months, were amazing. Just seeing the whiteout, seeing the fans, and how the whole city was really behind us," he said. "It didn't turn out the way we wanted to, but I look back fondly on that. You look at the first two series, that Game 1 of the Conference Final, things like that, those are memories that I think will be with me for a long time."