Jets are now the NHL's final four team to beat New Mr. Game 7 Paul Stastny netted two goals to help the Winnipeg Jets chase Pekka Rinne from the Nashville Predators net in a Game 7 showdown to advance to their first Western Conference final and have to be considered the new favourite in the NHL’s final four, Frank Seravalli writes.

Frank Seravalli TSN Senior Hockey Reporter Follow|Archive

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — There’s a different mindset on the prairies, Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff was saying before the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Patience. Hard work. Genuine humility to let your actions speak louder than your words.

That is the way of life in Manitoba.

The Winnipeg Jets made the ultimate statement to the hockey world on Thursday night, without having to open their mouths: We’re the team to beat.

That’s what the young Jets said when they smothered the Presidents' Trophy-winning Nashville Predators on the road in Game 7 to close out a roller-coaster second-round clash of titans.

“We played four games here and never lost in regulation against the best team in the league,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said.

Winnipeg is halfway to a Stanley Cup. And after knocking off the favourite in clinical fashion, the Jets should be considered the new favourite in the NHL’s final four.

Believe it.

History is on the Jets' side. Each of the last 14 times the NHL's top two regular season teams have clashed in the postseason, the winner has gone on to hoist the Stanley Cup. The Penguins did it last spring after beating the Capitals in the second round.

“They’re young and they’re capable,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said.

With two bizarre first period goals, the Jets chased Predators netminder Pekka Rinne just 10:47 into the game – the fastest hook for a goaltender in 171 Game 7s in NHL history. Winnipeg never hesitated, not even for a second, with the lead.

They piled it on, wave after wave, with the brute force of the deepest forward talent pool in the league until Wheeler dished to Mark Scheifele to seal a surgical 5-1 victory and punch the Jets’ first-ever ticket to the Western Conference final.

“I didn’t see us checking the clock waiting for it to tick down,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. “We just really enjoyed this one.”

It’s the West final everyone predicted at the start of the season: the Vegas Golden Knights at Winnipeg Jets. The Jets host Game 1 on Saturday night amid the seventh Whiteout of the spring.

The most deserving fan base in North American professional sports finally has something tangible to cheer for, home of the best bet to end Canada’s 25-year Stanley Cup drought since Vancouver in 2011.

“The fans, I don’t even know how to explain them anymore,” Cheveldayoff said. “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.”

Go figure. A Jets franchise that didn’t exist when the drought started may have the best chance to end it.

“We’re only halfway there,” Cheveldayoff reminded, tempering expectations.

The lessons learned over these last four wins built a foundation for future success. No team won consecutive games. They went 1-2 at Bell MTS Place. They dropped a critical Game 6 clincher on home ice. Their young guns slumped at times. Nothing was easy.

“That was every bit the series we expected it to be,” Wheeler 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.”

Now that they’ve made it through to the other side, no one will ever say that they’re inexperienced again. The vets were there to help them through it.

The new Mr. Game 7, Paul Stastny, netted two goals and an assist to bring his total to five goals and three assists in four career Game 7s. It must be in his blood. He instantly thought of his father Peter’s Game 7 overtime winner that knocked out the Montreal Canadiens in 1985.

Winnipeg went 1-1-1 against the Golden Knights during the regular season, before Vegas dispatched Los Angeles and San Jose in succession to start the playoffs.

The Golden Knights are one of the fastest teams in the NHL, but they don’t have the depth or the size that the Jets used to wear down Nashville.

They also don’t have Scheifele. Call him “Conn Scheif” after he threw his hat in the ring for the Conn Smythe trophy with an incredible series against Nashville with seven goals and 11 points in seven games.

Scheifele is now the NHL’s leading playoff goal scorer. His 11 are three more than Alex Ovechkin. His six road goals were the most in one series since Marian Gaborik in 2014 with the Los Angeles Kings.

“It was an awesome series,” Scheifele said.

There was a certain relaxed vibe around the Jets, one that you would have instead expected from the defending Stanley Cup finalist Predators. If you didn’t know any better, you would have thought their paths had been reversed.

Cheveldayoff and Wheeler both said they just had a “good feeling” about the Jets on Thursday morning.

“Sometimes, ignorance is bliss,” Wheeler said. “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.”

There will be no escaping the stage now, not in the final four. The temperature is ratcheting up now, the lights will be brighter – a big leap from the tiny honky tonks of Music City to the neon spectacle of Sin City.

After passing maybe the most difficult test they’ll face all playoffs, the Jets feel they’re well equipped to handle whatever is thrown their way.

“We’ll find out,” Wheeler said.

Until then, they will celebrate in Manitoba with the community that has given them their identity – and vice versa – where they share the most unique bond in sports.

“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.”

Contact Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @frank_seravalli​