By Canadian Press

Jets ‘here to battle’ as series with Predators shifts back to Nashville tied 2-2

May 4, 2018 | 9:38 AM

Jets captain Blake Wheeler has seen his team battle through adversity time and again this season.

He doesn’t expect anything different ahead of what could be Winnipeg’s toughest test to date.

The Jets had an opportunity to grab a 3-1 stranglehold in their best-of-seven second-round playoff series with the Nashville Predators on home ice Thursday, but instead suffered a 2-1 setback and return to Music City for Saturday’s Game 5 tied 2-2.

Winnipeg had scored 15 combined goals to open the Western Conference semifinal — including a wild 7-4 comeback victory in Game 3 — only to see the battle-tested Predators impressively lock things down in Game 4 after taking a 2-0 lead.

“We don’t change anything,” Wheeler said in a quiet Winnipeg locker room following Thursday’s defeat. “I think our group has responded all year long and not for a second did we think coming into this series we were going to breeze through it.

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“We expected it to be a battle, and throughout this whole thing there’s going to be learning experiences and ups and downs.”

The Predators and Jets had gone toe-to-toe offensively through three games, but facing a near must-win game in a hostile and raucous Bell MTS Place, Nashville chose to simplify its approach after pulling in front, content to chip pucks out and let the Jets try to counter through a clogged neutral zone.

“They played a really simple, good defensive game,” Jets centre Bryan Little said. “They were working that high (clearance) pretty good and then we’re just skating into a wall again.

“We’ve got to find a way to beat that.”

Winnipeg head coach Paul Maurice was content with the first half of the game from his team’s perspective — the Jets had a couple of great chances that just hopped over sticks, while Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne made a couple of big saves — but he didn’t like how his players coped with Nashville’s trap.

“We were a little slow moving the puck through the neutral zone, trying to do things a little more individually than you need,” he said. “But that wasn’t the case in the first 30 minutes.”

The Predators played a near-perfect road game to even the series, but it will be interesting to see how they line up at Bridgestone Arena in Game 5.

The teams with the two best records in the NHL in 2017-18 combined for 41 goals in five regular-season meetings, and 25 more to open this series before Nashville clamped down Thursday.

“We knew they were going to give us their best,” Little said. “They’re a good team over there and they came out and played a good game, really good defensive game, and gave us some trouble.

“It’s back to the drawing board in Nashville.”

The Jets head to Tennessee knowing they can win there after picking up a convincing 4-1 victory in Game 1 before playing the Predators tight in a 5-4 double overtime loss in Game 2.

“We’re here to battle,” Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck said. “We’re here to fight.

“We’re not giving away any easy games, that’s for sure.”

But the same is true for the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Predators.

“I guess if you’ve been in enough series … you know that there’s nothing safe, there’s nothing given,” Nashville head coach Peter Laviolette said. “A 1-0 lead means nothing, a 3-1 lead means nothing, 2-2 doesn’t mean anything. You’ve got to play every day.

“You’ve got to live every day and play every game like it could be the swing game.”

Wheeler expects his Jets to meet that challenge head-on.

“We’ve responded incredibly well all year,” he said. “It has not been an easy year.

“We’ve answered the bell every single time.”

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Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press