Predators shut out Jets, force 7th

Caps end Penguins’ hex, win series in overtime

The NHL’s two best regular-season teams will need a Game 7 to settle their Western Conference semifinal series.

Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson each scored two goals, and Pekka Rinne turned away 34 shots for his fifth career playoff shutout Monday night as the visiting Nashville Predators blanked the Winnipeg Jets 4-0 at Bell MTS Place.

The result equaled the series at three games each. The deciding game will be Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., the first time the Predators will have hosted a Game 7 in franchise history.

It will be the first Game 7 for Winnipeg since the Atlanta Thrashers franchise moved to Manitoba prior to the 2011-12 season.

“I think we can gain a lot of confidence from this game,” Predators center Ryan Johansen said, according to the Tennessean. “It wasn’t like we snuck away with one or weaseled a game out or whatever you want to call it. We controlled the game tonight. With our backs against the wall, we went out and we controlled the game.

“I think we need to recognize that and understand when we’re all on the same page, that’s how we can execute on a daily basis.”

In what was billed as the biggest game in Winnipeg’s NHL history, Nashville needed just 1:02 to spoil the mood. A spinning Arvidsson deflected Roman Josi’s point shot past goalie Connor Hellebuyck, although the tally was waved off quickly by referee Wes McCauley.

Upon video review, McCauley reversed his call that Arvidsson played it with a high stick. The goal gave the Predators an immediate lead and forced Winnipeg into chase mode.

Nashville gave the Jets three power-play chances in the first period but killed each with little trouble. Those failures hung like a millstone around Winnipeg’s collective neck, particularly when Forsberg began working his magic. EVGENY KUZNETSOV scored on a breakaway 5:27 into overtime, giving the visiting Washington Capitals a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday and a six-game triumph in the Eastern Conference semifinal series. The Capitals, who won the series 4-2, advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 20 years. They will take on the Tampa Bay Lightning, who beat the Boston Bruins in a five-game semifinal series.

Washington is in the Eastern Conference finals for just the third times in team history, the last being in 1997-98 when it beat the Buffalo Sabres and then lost to the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final.

The Capitals also had lost seven consecutive playoff series to Pittsburgh, who won the Stanley Cup the past two seasons.