Rinne feels responsible for Predators loss to Jets in Game 7

NASHVILLE -- Pekka Rinne looked as though he was in detention.
There he was, sitting on a chair just inside the tunnel adjoining the Nashville Predators bench, staring at the wall, his Stanley Cup dream having evaporated in roughly half a period. Like the capacity crowd shoehorned into Bridgestone Arena for Game 7 of the Western Conference Second Round on Thursday, he was in disbelief, wondering how it could have all gone wrong so quickly.

The Predators' No. 1 goaltender was replaced by backup Juuse Saros 10:41 into the game after giving up weak short side goals to Winnipeg Jets defenseman Tyler Myers and forward Paul Stastny. The Jets would ride the momentum of that early lead to a 5-1 win against the Predators in and a 4-3 series victory.
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The win propelled the Jets to the third round for the first time. They'll face the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, NBC, CBC, TVAS).

Rinne is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goalie and will be in Las Vegas for the 2018 NHL Awards on June 20. It will be a bittersweet visit for the 35-year-old Finnish goaltender who'd hoped to lead his Predators against Vegas in the next round.
Instead, with the Predators hosting a Game 7 for the first time in their history, it crumbled almost as quickly as it started.
"I obviously feel very much responsible for our season ending at this point," said Rinne, who made five saves. "Tough. Tough to swallow. Tough to understand."

Rinne had an outstanding regular season (42-13-4, 2.31 goals against average, .927 save percentage, eight shutouts) but admitted being inconsistent during the playoffs.
"You know, I can't point on anything," said Rinne, who had an ordinary 7-6 record this postseason. "Felt good and no injuries, totally healthy and total ups and downs throughout the playoffs.
"And obviously, you know, the biggest moment of the season, it's a terrible feeling. You let your teammates down, and that's what happened tonight."
But anyone putting the entire blame on Rinne's shoulders would be misguided.
When Predators defenseman P.K. Subban scored at 15:54 of the first period to make it 2-1, the energy that had been siphoned out of the crowd immediately reappeared. But Nashville mustered few scoring chances over the next 24:06 and found itself trailing 3-1 after Jets forward Mark Scheifele scored at 17:50 of the second period.
Goals in the third period by Stastny and Scheifele sealed the deal for the Jets, who were simply better in Game 7. Just ask Subban, who called it a "team loss" and lashed out at those pointing fingers solely at Rinne.

"Listen to me, anyone who wants to criticize, critics who want to criticize him, (they) don't know what they're talking about," Subban said. "I don't care if they've played in the NHL or not; he's the backbone of our hockey club and he's one of the main reasons we're here.
"Could we all have been better today? I mean, yeah. We didn't do enough. I felt at times they had their whole team going and we didn't. When it comes down to that, I think everyone could have gotten better, could have given more.
"I'm sick and tired of people always talking about him. He's the backbone of this team. You talk about top goaltenders in the League, it's him, it's (Carey) Price, it's (Andrei) Vasilevskiy, it's (Connor Hellebucyk), it's these guys. You're lucky to have one of them.
"We've got to look at this as a team. We've got to improve as a team. Think about it, rest and recover, and think about winning a championship next year."
To do so, the Predators will have to improve at Bridgestone Arena. Though they went 28-9-4 at home during the regular season, they were 3-4 here in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including 1-3 against the Jets.

As the reality of the loss was sinking in among Predators players, coach Peter Laviolette walked into the locker room and made a telling gesture.
He gave Rinne a hug.
"It's difficult," Laviolette said. "This isn't about Pekks; it was some tough bounces and you become limited with what you can do to try and change the game.
"This is on all of us. It was a series that we wanted to move forward on. We ran into a good team and they're moving on."
The Predators won the Presidents' Trophy for having the most points during the regular season (117). Laviolette said that doesn't matter now.
"(The Jets) are a good hockey team," he said. "They're young and they're capable. You'll get to a final four and they're going to play it out and as you know, anything can happen once you get to the final four and especially the final two."