The Winnipeg Jets are headed to the first Western Conference final in their short history after knocking off the NHL's best team in the regular season.
Tyler Myers and Paul Stastny scored 2:06 apart in the first period, and the Jets stunned the Nashville Predators 5-1 on Thursday night in their first Game 7 - continuing an amazing run for a team swept in its previous two playoff appearances.
Stastny finished with a second goal and an assist, and Mark Scheifele also had two goals. Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor each had two assists.
Connor Hellebuyck made 36 saves for Winnipeg, which won three of four games in Nashville after missing the Presidents' Trophy by three points to the Predators.
The Jets now host Vegas in Game 1 on Saturday night in a conference final nobody could've predicted when this season started.
P.K. Subban scored for Nashville, now the ninth Presidents' Trophy winner in 10 years not to win the Stanley Cup.
The Winnipeg Jets are headed to the first Western Conference final in their short history after knocking off the NHL's best team in the regular season.
Tyler Myers and Paul Stastny scored 2:06 apart in the first period, and the Jets stunned the Nashville Predators 5-1 on Thursday night in their first Game 7 - continuing an amazing run for a team swept in its previous two playoff appearances.
Stastny finished with a second goal and an assist, and Mark Scheifele also had two goals. Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor each had two assists.
Connor Hellebuyck made 36 saves for Winnipeg, which won three of four games in Nashville after missing the Presidents' Trophy by three points to the Predators.
The Jets now host Vegas in Game 1 on Saturday night in a conference final nobody could've predicted when this season started.
P.K. Subban scored for Nashville, now the ninth Presidents' Trophy winner in 10 years not to win the Stanley Cup.
Both goals were from terribly poor angles, prompting the move to pull Rinne in favor of backup Juuse Saros.
It's been a rocky postseason for the Vezina Trophy nominee, as he owned a pedestrian 2.94 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage heading into Game 7.
The 23-year-old Saros had stopped all 26 shots he's faced in relief of Rinne these playoffs prior to entering Game 7. In the regular season, he posted a 2.45 GAA and a .925 save percentage in 26 contests.
Game 7 vs. WPG: Forsberg-Johansen-Arvidsson Fiala-Turris-Smith Sissons-Bonino-Watson Hartnell-Jarnkrok-Hartman Josi-Ellis Ekholm-Subban Emelin-Weber Rinne
Hartman played in Games 2-5 where he's contributed a goal and an assist but hasn't been in the lineup since. Emelin enters the series having not played since Game 3. The 32-year-old has gone pointless in nine playoff contests with just one shot on goal.
The Nashville Predators will be without their most experienced player for their biggest game of the season.
Mike Fisher has been ruled out of Game 7 against the Winnipeg Jets and is day to day with what the Predators are only referring to as a lower-body injury.
The 37-year-old departed Game 6 of the second-round series after playing only 2:58.
Fisher had been centering the Predators' fourth line. He hasn't contributed much offensively since his return, with two goals and four points in 16 regular-season games and only one point - a goal - in 12 playoff contests.
However, he won 58 percent of his even-strength faceoffs in his limited regular-season action and improved that to 65 percent in the playoffs.
Nashville's former captain retired in August but then signed a one-year deal to rejoin the club in late February.
Connor McDavid potted a hat trick and Bo Horvat scored twice as Canada cruised to a 5-0 victory over Norway at the World Championship in Denmark on Thursday.
McDavid tallied twice in the first period and added one in the second, while Horvat got on the board in the opening frame and then again in the third.
Canada improved to 3-0-1-0 at the tournament and moved into a tie with the United States for first place in Group B. Norway sits in second-last place in the group with no regulation wins (0-1-1-2) through four contests.
Next up for Canada is a matchup with Finland on Saturday. Norway faces Denmark on Friday.
Only two weeks removed from being benched in favor of usual backup Philipp Grubauer, Holtby turned in one of the best series of his eight-year career, and was instrumental in the Capitals punching their ticket to the conference finals for the first time since 1998.
He wasn't peppered with pucks in every outing against the Pens, but he stood tall when his team needed him most, stopping 73 of 79 high-danger chances and posting a .921 save percentage through six games.
Simply put: Washington doesn't slay its dragon without Holtby.
Of course, he's far from the first goaltender to steal a series. Here's a look at a few other netminders from recent history who are guilty of postseason robbery.
Matt Murray, Penguins - 2016, 2nd round vs. Capitals
Murray burst onto the NHL scene in the 2016 playoffs, earning three wins against the New York Rangers en route to a Penguins first-round victory. But he truly caught fire in the next round.
The Penguins are never true underdogs thanks to their two megastars in Evegni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, but they were meeting a Capitals team that put up a staggering 120 points during the regular season.
Murray wasn't fazed. Then 21, the rookie played like a 30-year-old vet, stopping 187 of 202 shots and posting a .926 save percentage while carrying his team to a six-game victory. But it's the way he got the job done that really impressed.
He was easily the best player on the ice for multiple games, putting up highlight-reel stops night after night. Here are two perfect examples, starting with a pad save late in the third period of a tied Game 1. Washington ended up with the win, but that result would have been much more one-sided if not for Murray's heroics. It also set the tone for the remainder of the series.
The second example is from Game 2. Murray once again kept the game knotted with a late third-period stunner, this time stoning Andre Burakovsky on the doorstep.
The Penguins went on to win the Cup, and can credit Murray as the main reason they got past the Capitals.
Jaroslav Halak, Canadiens - 2010, 1st round vs. Capitals
The Montreal Canadiens have a distinguished history of producing elite goaltenders. Jacques Plante, Ken Dryden, Patrick Roy ... and Jaroslav Halak? Well, for a few weeks in 2010, hockey fans in la belle province were ready to anoint Halak as the second coming of Georges Vezina thanks to his unreal first round against the No. 1-seeded ... Washington Capitals.
Montreal qualified for the postseason with 88 points, securing the eighth spot by one point over the Rangers. No one expected the Habs to win a game, let alone the series.
Check out Halak's ridiculous numbers from Montreal's four wins:
Game
Saves
GA
SV%
Game 1
45
2
.957
Game 4
37
1
.974
Game 5
53
1
.981
Game 6
41
1
.976
He was also solid in the following round when the Canadiens unseated the fourth-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins, but that was a tighter series that went the distance. Regardless, his wizardry against the Caps springboarded Montreal's trip all the way to the conference finals.
J.S. Giguere, Mighty Ducks - 2003, 1st round vs. Red Wings
While his Western Conference Final performance against the Minnesota Wild was arguably more impressive - he allowed only one goal on 123 shots in a four-game sweep - it's Giguere's first-round mastery of the powerhouse Detroit Red Wings that cements his spot here.
The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim squeaked into the 2003 postseason as a seventh seed and immediately met a squad of defending Cup champions that boasted several Hall of Famers, including Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, and Nicklas Lidstrom. Instead of bowing to his more talented and decorated opponents, though, "Jiggy" went into beast mode.
He set an NHL postseason record for saves in a playoff debut when he stopped 63 shots in a triple-overtime Game 1 win.
Although it was his first trip to the playoffs, Giguere was the difference-maker, turning aside 165 of 171 Red Wings shots en route to a four-game sweep. If it wasn't for his stellar play, Anaheim's epic run to the Cup Final would have ended almost before it began. He went on to win the Conn Smythe Trophy even though the Mighty Ducks lost to the New Jersey Devils.
While most fans tune into a Game 7 for its edge-of-your-seat entertainment and painstaking pressure-packed moments, others throw it on to watch their degenerate bets cash - or crumble - before their eyes.
And with Game 7 between the Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets set for Thursday night from the Music City, oddsmakers have come up with a fun list of prop bets to keep even the most avid of bettors occupied.
Check out the list of props for the Predators' and Jets' deciding game:
Team to score first?
Winnipeg Jets (2.05)
Nashville Predators (1.74)
Team scoring first wins the game?
Yes (1.435)
No (2.90)
Goal in the first 9:30 of first period?
Yes (1.83)
No (1.90)
First team to three goals?
Winnipeg Jets (3.00)
Nashville Predators (2.10)
Neither (3.40)
(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)
Total goal number Odd/Even?
Even (3.05)
Odd (1.35)
Will the game go to overtime?
Yes (3.70)
No (1.26)
Total saves in the game - Connor Hellebuyck (Jets)?
Over 29.5 (1.87)
Under 29.5 (1.87)
Total saves in the game - Pekka Rinne (Predators)?
Over 30.5 (1.87)
Under 30.5 (1.87)
Game 7 puck drop is set for 8 p.m. ET from Bridgestone Arena.
The winger has come under fire for a pair of incidents involving licking opposing players during the playoffs, and was officially put on watch by the NHL as a result of the odd behavior.
Speaking at a year-end press conference Thursday, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said he believes Marchand's remorse is sincere.
"... I think he realizes the impact," Sweeney said, per Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald. "We spoke a little about his family and how it reflects on him as a person, more so than him as player. I think he's gained a tremendous amount respect around the National Hockey League, worldwide as a matter of fact for him as a player. And I think that's where the attention needs to be 100 percent focused on, his impact as a hockey player ... and as a leader of our hockey club.
"The things that he does to take away from that really don't need to exist anymore. And it'll be up to him. The proof will be if he can find that line and never really cross it anymore. Because he doesn't need to. He's accomplished things as a hockey player and now hopefully he wants to accomplish things as a leader and quality person."
Head coach Bruce Cassidy echoed his GM's sentiments.
"Brad's an elite player in the National Hockey League so when I have conversations with him, it always starts there," he said. "Then it goes to 'Well, what do you want your legacy to be?' He's at a stage in his life and maturity where he understands, he truly gets it that he doesn't need the other stuff to make him to truly be an elite player."
Marchand, who recorded 34 goals and 51 assists in 68 games this season, remains under contract with the Bruins for the next seven seasons at a cap hit of $6.125 million.
The United States defeated Latvia 3-2 in overtime on Thursday to stay undefeated through four games at the 2018 World Championship.
After Chris Kreider opened the scoring, Latvia responded with two goals to take a 2-1 lead, but Colin White notched the equalizer midway through the second frame.
The win places USA atop the Group B standings, and its next game comes Friday against Korea. Latvia, meanwhile, earns a point for the loss and will play Germany on Saturday.
