The Winnipeg Jets only got a few hours to celebrate the biggest victory

NASHVILLE Jean-Gabriel Pageau Jersey , Tenn. (AP) The Winnipeg Jets only got a few hours to celebrate the biggest victory in franchise history.The Jets finished off the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Nashville Predators 5-1 in Game 7 of their second-round series Thursday night, then quickly headed home to prepare for the opener of their first ever Western Conference final Saturday night.”It’s too bad one of us had to be knocked off here,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. ”But night’s like tonight, you try to really soak it in and enjoy it. And then, wake up and get ready for a big game on Saturday.”The Jets will be hosting the upstart Vegas Golden Knights in a conference final nobody predicted.Upstart Winnipeg was swept in its only previous playoff appearance since leaving Atlanta for Canada in 2011. The Golden Knights, meanwhile, are dragging their debut season deep into the NHL calendar.”We know what they bring, we know that they’re good, that they maybe surprised a few teams, but not really,” Jets center Paul Stastny said. ”They had 109 points. In a sense they play like us, they have a lot of depth http://www.senatorsshoponline.com/authentic-mark-stone-jersey , and they can roll four lines, and they have good, puck-moving D. So we’re going to have our hands full for sure.”Stastny had one of two Winnipeg goals 2:06 apart in the first period to chase Vezina Trophy finalist Pekka Rinne for the third and final time in their series. Stastny finished with two goals and an assist, and Mark Scheifele finished with two goals, giving him a postseason record seven road goals in a single series .Tyler Myers also scored. Wheeler and rookie Kyle Connor each added two assists, and Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who improved to 4-0 coming off a loss this postseason, made 36 saves to outduel Rinne in the showdown between Vezina Trophy finalists.”A year in a goalie’s life makes such a big difference,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said of his 24-year-old goalie. ”In the third period, I think had one bobbled puck that got away from him, but everything else after that he was knocking it to the corner, he was clearing the front. He looked calm.”This was the first Game 7 for the Winnipeg/Atlanta franchise Youth Matt Duchene Jersey , and the Jets dominated the Predators to win in Nashville for the third time in the series. They outskated the Predators and kept the puck on their sticks much of the game, even as Nashville outshot them 21-7 in the third period.By the time Scheifele scored his record-setting goal into an empty net with 2:33 left, the Jets had left no doubt this was their series.Now they head back to Winnipeg, where the Jets posted the NHL’s best home record in the regular season. They have a good idea how much this next series means as Canada’s last team still standing and even more special for Winnipeg after the town lost its first NHL team to Arizona.Wheeler said they’re thrilled their fans get to have a celebration.”Our fans have been with us filling up our building for seven years and we haven’t always had the most success, but they’ve always been supportive all over the city,” Wheeler said. ”I don’t think I’ve heard a negative comment in seven years. So now, we’re just happy to keep playing for them.”— COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Columbus coach John Tortorella had trouble explaining how his team could blow a two-goal lead in the third period Saturday night only to come back and win 31 seconds into overtime. Finally, he resorted to quoting Forrest Gump.“It’s a box of chocolates — you just never know what you’re going to get from shift to shift at certain times,” Tortorella said. “I guess that’s just what the game is.” Panarin’s shot from the left circle glanced off the far post and into the net to give the Blue Jackets a 5-4 victory over the Buffalo Sabres, who had scored a pair of goals in a two-minute span of the third period to erase the deficit and force the extra period.That all came after Cam Atkinson scored two goals in 31 seconds of the second period to give Columbus what looked like a comfortable lead.“I just don’t understand it sometimes,” Tortorella said. “But we found a way to get two points.”Atkinson and Panarin each had two goals and an assist Mike Condon Jersey , and Pierre Luc-Dubois had a goal and a pair of assists, including the pass to Panarin low in the circle that set up the overtime goal.Joonas Korpisalo stopped 34 shots and is undefeated in four starts for the Blue Jackets, who won their second straight and ended a three-game winning streak for Buffalo.Jeff Skinner and Jason Pominville each had a goal and an assist, and backup goalie Linus Ullmark — who previously had given up just one goal in two starts this season — had 32 saves for Buffalo. Kyle Okposo got his third goal of the season for Buffalo 1:38 into the game on a 2-on-1 rush. Dubois evened it with a snipe from the middle of the right circle later in the first, with Panarin getting his fourth primary assist in the past two games. Skinner got a fortunate deflection right onto his stick at the bottom of the right circle and slipped the puck between Korpisalo and the near post to get his team-leading sixth goal and make it 2-1 Sabres at the end of the first.Dubois returned the favor to his linemate early in the second with a feed that led to Panarin’s finish from the left circle to tie it again.Atkinson’s pair in the second period gave Columbus a 4-2 lead, but Buffalo got goals in the third from Pominville and then Casey Middelstadt on a power play to even the score and set up Panarin’s overtime heroics.“He’s one of the best players in the league, and it kind of showed in this game,” Ullmark said. “It was a good shot.”Buffalo was trying to win four straight for the first time since 2014. It didn’t happen, but coach Phil Housley was pleased with the effort.“I have to give credit to our guys for finding a way to battle back,” he said. “We would have loved to have won that game in overtime, but getting a point after being two down in the third period says a lot about our group.”NOTES: Atkinson’s fifth and sixth tallies of the season in a 31-second span of the second period broke a franchise record for quickest back-to-back goals…. Sabres F Evan Rodrigues missed the game because he returned to Buffalo for personal reasons. … The Blue Jackets had a three-goal second period for the second straight game and the fifth time this season. … Columbus F Markus Hannikainen replaced Sonny Milano for the second straight game. … Pominville has four goals and four assists in the last four games.UP NEXTBuffalo: Hosts Calgary on Tuesday night.Columbus: Hosts Detroit on Tuesday night.