NASHVILLE — Kyle Connor scored the first two playoff goals of his career and added an assist as the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Nashville Predators 6-2 on Saturday night to take a 3-2 lead in their second-round playoff series.
Dustin Byfuglien and Mark Scheifele had a goal and an assist each, while Paul Stastny and Mathieu Perreault also scored for Winnipeg.
Connor Hellebuyck made 38 saves to get the win. Blake Wheeler had three assists, while Nikolaj Ehlers added two of his own.
Yannick Weber and Ryan Johansen replied for Nashville. Pekka Rinne stopped 20 of 26 shots before getting pulled in favour of Juuse Saros, who finished with five saves.
The Jets will look to close out the Western Conference semifinal back home in Game 6 on Monday.
Game 7, if necessary, would be back in Nashville on Thursday.
Scoreless through the first 27 minutes Saturday, the teams exploded for six goals in a stretch of just over 10 minutes in the second period.
Stastny put Winnipeg up 1-0 at 7:44 when Patrik Laine's shot from the left faceoff dot deflected off the Jets centre in front and past Rinne for his fourth of the playoffs.
Rinne made a great stop on Wheeler's wraparound chance a few minutes earlier before Kevin Fiala fired high over Hellebuyck.
The Predators tied it at 11:08 when Weber jumped on a turnover and moved in on an odd-man rush before roofing a shot past Hellebuyck's glove for the defenceman's first playoff goal since 2011.
But Connor restored Winnipeg's lead just 1:22 later when he popped a loose puck upstairs off a scramble in front for the rookie's first-ever playoff goal after some good work from Scheifele.
Byfuglien then made it 3-1 at 14:35 with his fourth of the series when he blasted a shot through traffic past Rinne after the Predators goalie made a couple of stops off a scrum in front.
Connor stretched the lead to 4-1 at with 2:59 left in the period when he took a slick feed from Wheeler at side of the Nashville goal to bury his second.
The Jets got the game's first power play on the next shift, but Johansen raced the other way on a 2-on-1 and beat Hellebuyck shortside for his fifth just 58 seconds later.
But Scheifele put any thoughts of a comeback to bed 28 seconds into the third when he finished off a pass into the slot from Connor for his ninth after a great setup from the first-year winger.
Nashville's Ryan Hartman had a chance on a break five minutes later, but lost control before getting a shot off on Hellebuyck.
Hartman then took an interference penalty, and Perrault banged home his first off a lucky bounce to end Rinne's night at 6:23.
The teams split the first two games of the series in Nashville before doing the same in Winnipeg.
After the Jets secured a crazy 7-4 comeback victory in Game 3 on home ice — there were 25 goals scored between the clubs in the first three outings — the Predators battened down the hatches defensively in Game 4, stifling Winnipeg's speed through the neutral zone in a 2-1 win that evened the series.
The Predators, who claimed their first Presidents' Trophy, and the Jets finished the season with a combined 231 points — 117 for Nashville, 114 for Winnipeg — the most between two teams ever to meet prior to a conference final.
Winnipeg head coach Paul Maurice put Connor back on the top line with Scheifele and Wheeler, while Ehlers skated alongside Stastny and Laine. Connor and Ehlers had flipped spots since the end of the first period of Game 3.
Saturday's scoreless first saw the Predators get the majority of the chances — Winnipeg had just one shot over the final 7:53 — but Hellebuyck was there at every turn.
The deafening crowd at Bridgestone Arena rose to its feet and cheered non-stop during a TV timeout late in the period as the words "real noise" were displayed on the scoreboard above centre ice in reference to Wheeler's insinuation after Game 3 that the atmosphere inside Nashville's rink is partly manufactured.
Notes: Rinne was also pulled in Game 1. ... Perreault, out since the opener of Winnipeg's first-round series with the Minnesota Wild, returned to the lineup, taking the place of veteran winger Matt Hendricks. ... Fiala drew in for the Predators after getting scratched for Game 4 in favour of veteran forward Scott Hartnell.
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Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
