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WINNIPEG Joe Mixon Bengals Jersey , Manitoba — With a three-goal first period lead, there’s no doubt many members of the Nashville Predators were convinced it was just a matter of 40 minutes until they reclaimed home-ice advantage in their second-round playoff series against the Winnipeg Jets.

But then the unfathomable happened. And now, instead of preparing for Game 4 on Thursday with a 2-1 series lead, the Predators trail by that same margin and are in danger of facing elimination when they return home for Game 5 on Saturday.

After absolutely dominating the Jets in every facet of the game for the first 20 minutes, the Predators poked the bear with the pointiest of sticks and turned a three-goal cushion into a three-goal deficit.

Center Austin Watson caught Jets captain Blake Wheeler with a hit to the head early in the second period, knocking his helmet off, causing normally mild-mannered Mark Scheifele to wrestle him to the ground, negating what would have been a Winnipeg power play.

From that point on, the Jets were a different team, finishing hits, outskating and outshooting the Predators and recapturing the most elusive of intangibles — momentum.

Winnipeg center Paul Stastny got things going less than three minutes into the second period when defenseman Jacob Trouba’s shot from the point hit his skate and deflected past Pekka Rinne and the comeback was on. Within three more minutes, both Dustin Byfuglien and Trouba had bulged the twine behind arguably the NHL’s best goalie this season and Bell MTS Place, which just a few minutes earlier had resembled a morgue Tarik Cohen Bears Jersey , had been transformed into a madhouse.

When Byfuglien put the Jets ahead 4-3 with just 45 seconds remaining in the period, it was so loud that fans couldn’t hear their own voices inside their own heads. Even though Nashville tied things at 4-4 in the third, the Jets had the ice tilted in their favor and Wheeler scored two goals in the third, including the game-winner.

“I was mad at (Scheifele) at first because I thought we had a power play,” Wheeler told a media scrum. “It’s one of those things that you hate to see (Scheifele) go to the box with anyone. I’d rather have him on the ice. I’m okay, I can take that (hit). But I would do the same for him. That’s what teammates do for each other.”

Byfuglien, in addition to his usual physical dominance, has also been making an impact on the scoresheet with 10 points to lead all defensemen. In fact, he has as many goals — three — as the entire Predators’ defense this postseason. Nashville led the NHL in goals (56) and points (206) from their rear-guards during the regular season.

Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm acknowledged that Byfuglien, who weighs 265 pounds, has been a dominant force.

“In today’s game, it’s all about speed and it’s all about moving your feet,” he told The Tennessean. “He can still do that being a large human being Isaiah Wynn Patriots Jersey , so it’s impressive, for sure.”

Jets forward Mathieu Perreault, who has been out since the first round of the playoffs but has been skating in a full-contact jersey for a couple of days, has been cleared to play and is a possibility for Thursday.

The playoffs are here. The champs are, too.

Sidney Crosby and the Penguins provided proof in Pittsburgh’s 7-0 dismantling of the Philadelphia Flyers in the opening game of their first-round series Wednesday night.

Crosby performed more stick wizardry on his way to his third postseason hat trick, Evgeni Malkin added a highlight-reel goal of his own and the Penguins overwhelmed their seemingly overmatched cross-state rivals to begin their quest for a third straight Stanley Cup with a blowout that seemed to indicate the grudge match could be a mismatch.

Not that Pittsburgh’s captain wanted to buy into any sort of message sending, even after the Penguins became only the fifth team in NHL history to win a series opener by at least seven goals.

”I mean, it’s one game,” Crosby said. ”Whether it’s 7-0 or 1-0 or double overtime, it’s one game. A big part in the playoffs is to get better every game and to adjust, and that’s the way we have to look at it.”

That might be a frightening proposition for the rest of the NHL. It certainly is for the Flyers, who have lost all five meetings with Pittsburgh this season, giving up at least five goals each time. Nothing that happened during the regular season Rashaad Penny Jersey , however, compared to Wednesday night. The Penguins pumped five goals in the first 29:01 to chase goalie Brian Elliott, and the Flyers simply could not keep pace.

”It was one of the worst games I’ve been a part of,” Flyers forward Claude Giroux said.

Philadelphia coach Dave Hakstol mercifully pulled Elliott after Crosby swatted Brian Dumoulin’s point shot out of the air and knocked it by a stunned Elliott to put the Penguins up 5-0 just before the game’s midway point. Elliott stopped 14 of 19 shots before being replaced by Petr Mrazek. Mrazek made 12 saves, but Hakstol indicated he’s likely to go with Elliott again in Friday’s Game 2.

Whoever is in net for the Flyers, it won’t matter if the play in front of them isn’t better. Philadelphia’s power play went 0 for 4 and didn’t even generate a shot.

”They beat us from pretty much every aspect tonight, starting from the net out,” Elliott said. ”Everybody just has to be better.”

Jake Guentzel had a goal and three assists for Pittsburgh. Bryan Rust and Carl Hagelin also scored. Matt Murray stopped 24 shots for his third straight playoff shutout.

The Flyers stressed the need to stay out of the penalty box and put together three disciplined, competitive periods if they wanted to put an abrupt halt to Pittsburgh’s run at history. It didn’t happen. Not even close.

The Penguins jumped on Philadelphia early. Elliott stopped Kris Letang’s slap shot with his blocker only to see the long rebound go right to Rust, who ripped it over Elliott’s right shoulder to give the Penguins the lead 2:38 into the game.

Philadelphia’s best chance at staying in it came minutes later, but Scott Laughton whiffed on his first attempt from the doorstep and Murray made a sprawling glove save on Laughton’s second try to preserve Pittsburgh’s lead.

”If that goes in, it’s 1-1 and maybe we’re talking about a different result,” Crosby said.

Moments later Leonard Williams Jersey , Hagelin expertly redirected Patric Hornqvist’s shot past Elliott 10:07 into the game. Malkin drew a hooking penalty to negate a Pittsburgh power play, and when he emerged from the penalty box, he whizzed past three Flyers in one sequence, darting by Jakub Voracek, slipping past Giroux and then fending off Shayne Gostisbehere before flicking a backhand past Elliott to put the Penguins up 3-0 before the series was 15 minutes old.

All that before Crosby got involved.

The two-time MVP has a knack for scoring in unorthodox ways. He beat Montreal’s Carey Price with an intentional double-deflection and smacked a rebound out of air in overtime to top New Jersey within a span of eight days last month.

His first of the playoffs was just as impressive and provided the exclamation point on a night Pittsburgh looked every bit the threat to become the first team since the New York Islanders of the early 1980s to capture three straight Cups.

NOTES: Crosby’s hat trick tied Pittsburgh owner and Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux for the most postseason hat tricks in franchise history. … Murray hasn’t allowed a goal since Game 4 of the 2017 Stanley Cup finals, a span of 206:26. … The Penguins, who had the league’s top-ranked power play during the regular season, went 1 for 4 with the man advantage. … Pittsburgh C Derick Brassard, who missed time late in the regular season with a lower-body injury, had an assist in 13:44. … Injured Steelers LB Ryan Shazier, who is recovering from spine stabilization surgery and has already been ruled out for the 2018 season, stood up and led the sell-out crowd in a pre-game cheer.

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