Jets advance to West finale

Winnipeg stuns Nashville, 5-1

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Winnipeg Jets are headed to the first Western Conference final in their short history after knocking off the NHL’s best regular-season team.

Tyler Myers and Paul Stastny scored 2:06 apart in the first period, and the Jets stunned the Nashville Predators, 5-1, 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 play host to Las Vegas Saturday night in Game 1 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 best season in Predators history ended earlier than a year ago, but in the same fashion on their own ice. They lost to the Penguins in Game 6 11 months ago in the Stanley Cup final.

Pekka Rinne, Nashville’s Vezina Trophy finalist along with Hellebuyck, was chased for the third time in this series after giving up two goals on seven shots. He lasted just 10 minutes, 7 seconds for the quickest exit by a starting goalie in a Game 7.

These teams combined for 231 points in the regular season, making this series the two best teams on points to meet in a series before a conference final.

This was the third Game 7 all time for Nashville with a big edge in experience on the Jets playing on this stage.

The Predators took five of the first six shots, then the Jets stunned the crowd. Myers squeezed a wrister between the post and Rinne’s left skate for a 1-0 lead at 8:40 of the first. Then Stastny put a backhander off Rinne and into the net 2:06 later for a 2-0 lead on just seven shots.

Stastny sealed the victory with his sixth goal this postseason on the Jets’ lone power play at 11:59. Scheifele added an empty-net goal with 2:33 left.