Winnipeg Jets Take Game 7 – Advance to Western Conference Final

The mindset of the Winnipeg Jets and Kevin Cheveldayoff was different last night before starting Game 7 against Nashville. It was time to let actions take the place of words, that and hard work and patience.

The Jets let everyone know last night that they are the team to beat in this year’s playoffs. A young team but with seasoned veterans of the NHL on board to help guide, control and motivate, they came out and beat the Nashville Predators, one of the best teams in the NHL 5-1.

Speaking on the Jets performance against Nashville during the regular season, Jets Coach Paul Maurice said,

“We played four games here and never lost in regulation against the best team in the league.”

The battle for the Stanley Cup is now at the half-way point, and Winnipeg is considered one of the favourites to go the distance. Even Don Cherry is predicting the Jets will bring the Cup home to Winnipeg this year.

If you look at history, it is on the side of the Winnipeg Jets as time two of the best regular season teams have gone head to head in the playoffs; the winner has won the Stanley Cup. Last year it was the Pittsburgh Penguins after the defeated the Washington Capitals during the second round of the playoffs.

The first two goals were unexpected with the puck unbelievably slipping past the pads of a shocked Rinne at the side of the net at 10:47 of the first period.
With determination, the Jets pushed hard with each line scoring their second goal at 9:14 and setting the stage for what would be, a devastating defeat for Nashville on home ice.

Blake Wheeler said they just enjoyed the game mentioning,

“I didn’t see us checking the clock waiting for it to tick down.”

Sportsnet

Nashville was not ready to give in after taking game 6 and making the series 3-3, and with a power play advantage and 4 minutes left in the first period, P.K Subban sent a hard drive through the crowd and made it 2-1. However, the night was far from over.

The second period was looking like it would be scoreless and remain 2-1 until Winnipeg came on hard with Blake Wheeler alone at the side of the net catching the Predators sleeping to make it 3-1 at 2;10 of the second period.

As the third period got underway, anticipation for Jets fans was high, as was the energy in the arena as Nashville fans sat hoping the Predators could come from behind.

Their dreams were shattered however after the Jets went into power play mode and scored at 8:02 of the third only 26 seconds in the power play making it 4-1 for the Jets and all but ending the hopes for Nashville.

And with an empty net, Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele added one more for the night to give the Winnipeg Jets a 5-1 victory and advancing to the Western Conference finals to play the Vegas Golden Knights.

This was final everyone had predicted, and those predictions came true with Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals will get underway on Saturday at 7 pm in Winnipeg.

Winnipeg fans were in a frenzy last night and for a city that comes out in droves, support for the Jets is at an all-time high. Speaking about the fans, Kevin Cheveldayoff, General Manager of the Jets said,

“The fans, I don’t even know how to explain them anymore. I’m happy that our city is on the national stage to see all of the things we’ve been talking about. They are truly some of the best fans in the league.

Blake Wheeler shared the sediment towards fans stating,

“I don’t even know how to describe it,” Wheeler said. “Our fans, I haven’t seen an empty seat in our building in seven years and we’ve made the playoffs twice. So much of what we do, we take such pride in our community. The people support us through thick and thin. It’s been a big celebration so far this spring in Winnipeg and we’re just happy to keep it going.”

#StanleyCup Playoffs Game 7 Magic!

WE ARE WIN-NIPEG!
#WPGWhiteout | #NSHvsWPG pic.twitter.com/aQec4rQefO — Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) May 11, 2018

The Jets made their presence known and are the Cinderella story of this year’s playoffs, but for Wheller, he felt the series against Nashville was all they expected it to be commenting about hthe Predators, he said,

“What a great team they are. There’s no doubt why they had the best regular season record, they’re just tough top to bottom and made our life miserable all series.”

Looking at the regular season, the Jets and Knights were even, but with the Golden Knights being one of the fastest in the league, the Jets will have to put on pressure. However the Knight lacks size and depth, and with the right strategy, the Jets will be in strong position to wear them down, at least that is the hope of fans and the Jets alike.

Both Wheeler and Cheveldayoff were feeling good going into Game 7, Wheeler commented that,

“Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. You come into a game like tonight and you don’t necessarily know what is at stake. When you don’t have a lot of experience, you also don’t have a lot of experience losing games like this, so you don’t know what that feeling is like and you don’t know how hard it is to get to these games and you don’t know the feeling of disappointment after losing them.”

Now facing centre stage, it is time to keep pushing and scoring. Betting action is favouring the Jets slightly, but with both teams well poised to make the finals, predicting who will take the series or in how many games is not an easy task.