"Game 6 was do or die," Nashville defenseman Yannick Weber said. "We realized in Winnipeg, if we lose, this is it. It has to be the same mindset tomorrow."
When it comes to Game 7 participation, the Predators have a decided edge over their opponents. This will be Nashville's third Game 7 in club history, compared to Winnipeg's first instance. Not the greatest discrepancy there, but when it comes to individual stats, there are some gaps.
The Predators have 20 players on their current roster who have skated in at least one Game 7 in their NHL career, 18 of whom who have done so in two or more. Behind Bonino leading the way, are Scott Hartnell and P.K. Subban with four each. Only seven Jets players on the active roster have ever participated in a Game 7. Only two have been victorious.
Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette is 5-2 all-time in Game 7s, while Jets bench boss Paul Maurice is 2-0, both wins coming as coach of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2009. Laviolette is one of just four coaches in NHL history to have won a Game 7 in all four rounds of the postseason, including a 3-1 victory in the last game of the 2006 Stanley Cup Final with Carolina.
So, what does all that experience mean? Maybe not as much as one would surmise. Laviolette has said on multiple occasions in the last two days he won't be counting on experience to win the game for Nashville, nor will he necessarily look to a home-ice advantage to propel the Preds over the top - although we've all seen what a Smashville Standing O can do.
Rather, for Laviolette and the Preds, it simply comes down to something they've said all season long: When the Predators play to the level they know they're capable of reaching, they believe they can beat any team in the League.
They have another chance to prove that on one of the biggest stages in hockey.
"We've been working all year for this," Hartnell said. "It's an exciting time, and you have to relish this moment and make sure we're playing our best hockey. Safe is death in this room. We have to go out there and play as hard as we can, play as smart as we can and get the W at the end of the day."
"Every game in the playoffs is important, but if you make mistakes when it's Game 5, you go down 3-2 and you're not out of the playoffs," Bonino said. "Everything gets bigger, a little bit more amplified, but at the end of the day, it's just hockey."