The Jets can match Nashville’s scoring

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CALGARY , Alberta (AP) After challenging his team to be better, Mike Smith went out and led by example.Smith made 28 saves for his fourth shutout this season, Johnny Gaudreau scored in the second period and the Calgary Flames edged the Edmonton Oilers 1-0 on Tuesday night to end a seven-game losing streak against their provincial rival.”Smitty is a real fiery, competitive guy and we wanted a different mindset coming in,” Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan said. ”If you’re a guy like him and you’re competitive, you’re going to say things and you want things, and it’s going to be good for our group that he’s backing them up.”Calgary (35-26-10) is two points behind Dallas and Colorado, who occupy the two wild-card spots in the Western Conference. The Flames are also two points back of Los Angeles for third place in the Pacific Division.After practice on Monday with the team reeling from Sunday’s 5-2 setback to the New York Islanders, Smith was vocal about how everyone needed to step it up.”It starts with your play on the ice. It’s hard to talk in the room and to (the media) when you don’t go out there and do your job,” Smith said. ”It starts with yourself, taking care of what you can control.”Calgary’s commitment to preserving a one-goal lead was especially evident in the final minute. With the Oilers on a power play and goaltender Cam Talbot pulled to make it a 6-on-4 , Troy Brouwer, Matt Stajan and Michael Frolik all blocked shots.”To see guys lying down, blocking shots, guys getting over the red or the blue and dumping pucks in. We had a one-goal lead and we were riding our goalie and we felt that we didn’t need to win the game 5-0,” Flames defenseman Travis Hamonic said. ”We know that come playoff games, this is how you win games. Close scores like this.”It was a superb bounce-back performance for Smith in his second game after missing a month with a lower-body injury. He was beaten four times on 26 shots Sunday against the Islanders.”He’s a very vocal guy on our team and he’s one of our leaders and sometimes when you put yourself out there and say those things, you know you’re going to follow it up with a good game yourself and everyone’s going to follow suit,” Hamonic said.Talbot made 31 saves as Edmonton (30-35-4) had its three-game winning streak snapped.”After last game they weren’t too happy with their performance, so we knew we were going to get their best tonight,” Talbot said. ”We knew we were going to get a desperate team that needs every point possible.”The most dangerous Oilers player all night was Connor McDavid, who entered on a seven-game point streak (six goals , seven assists) and with 18 goals in his last 19 games. But despite a team-high five shots and several other setups, McDavid could not solve Smith.Early in the third, Smith acrobatically kicked out his pad to rob Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on a one-timer after he was set up perfectly by McDavid. On that same shift, McDavid swooped in alone on Smith, only to be denied by the 35-year-old goalie.Smith also made a highlight-reel stop late in the second to preserve the one-goal margin, getting his arm on a shot from Ryan Strome after a bad bounce resulted in the Edmonton center having the puck alone in front.”We’d like to score some goals, but we created chances. Even at the end with the goaltender pulled, we had some good looks at the net,” Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. ”Not overly disappointed in the effort. I’m disappointed in the outcome.”Calgary scored at 5:18 of the second when Sean Monahan’s pass found Gaudreau alone in front and he zipped a backhand over Talbot’s shoulder.Gaudreau’s 22nd goal of the season extended his point streak to five games (two goals, five assists).NOTES: Calgary made two lineup changes at forward, with Drew Shore and Chris Stewart inserted for Matthew Tkachuk (upper body) and Mark Jankowski (coach’s decision). … Kris Versteeg (hip) missed his 49th game for the Flames but is nearing a return and could play as soon as Friday. … Ex-Flame Mike Cammalleri , who played in career game No. 900, has gone 30 games without a goal.UP NEXTOilers: Host the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night.Flames: Host the Sharks on Friday night.— NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Playing the Winnipeg Jets is exactly why Nashville coach Peter Laviolette wanted home-ice advantage in the NHL playoffs.Even if it’s a round – or two – earlier than anyone really wants.Laviolette’s Predators play Winnipeg in the Western Conference semifinals after turning in their best season in franchise history to grab the right to start and end a series in the place called ”Smashville.”They edged out their Central Division rival by a mere three points for the Presidents’ Trophy, and this will be just the fifth series since 1990 between the NHL’s top two teams in the regular season.”They wanted divisional battles, got them,” Laviolette said. ”This should be a big series.”It’s the second straight postseason that division foes and the league’s top finishers meet in this round. Pittsburgh, which wound up beating Nashville in the Stanley Cup Final, advanced to the Eastern finals by downing the Capitals in Game 7 in Washington.Winnipeg and Nashville played so well that this series has been anticipated for weeks, so good it could be a Cup Final despite the Predators winning the regular-season series 3-1-1. Nashville defenseman P.K. Subban dismissed such talk Thursday, noting this round remains a long way from the Stanley Cup Final.A thrilling series with lots of speed and goals? That the Jets and Predators can provide.”The thing about winning, and I’m sure you ask anybody who’s won a Cup , is the steps that it takes to get there,” Subban said. ”You have to go through some thick walls, and this is definitely one of the thickest walls that we’re going to have to get through to get there.”Winnipeg goes against the defending Western Conference champs coming off the franchise’s first postseason series victory after relocating from Atlanta in 2011 with 10 Jets making their playoff debuts against the Wild. Winnipeg center Bryan Little says that makes the Jets the underdogs by just a little bit.”It’s going to be a really tough series and a tight series, so I think that’s why everyone’s so excited about it,” Little said.Some things to know before Game 1 on Friday night:VEZINA FINALISTSGoalies for both the Jets and Predators are finalists for the Vezina Trophy with Nashville veteran Pekka Rinne looking to win the award in his fourth try.Connor Hellebuyck made his postseason debut, shutting out Minnesota twice with a 1.94 goals-against average and .924 save percentage. Rinne’s numbers weren’t nearly as glitzy against Colorado, but he tightened up over the final three games with a 1.34 GAA and .951 save percentage, including a shutout in the series clincher.HOME AND ROADNobody was better in the NHL at home than the Jets who went 32-7-2, and they have won 12 straight in Winnipeg, including all three in ousting Minnesota. The Jets haven’t lost at home since Feb. 27 – to Nashville. The Predators were the league’s best away from home (25-9-7). The Predators won twice on the road in the first round, including clinching in Colorado in Game 6.OFFENSIVE FIREPOWEREven with Rinne and Hellebuyck in net , these teams combined for 42 goals in five games in the regular season with Nashville outscoring the Jets 22-20. It was the most goals the Jets scored against any team, while they also gave up the most goals to any opponent. The Jets also ranked second in the regular season for both most goals (273) and average goals per game (3.33)SHUT DOWN WHO?Nashville’s top trio is nicknamed the ”JOFA” line for Ryan Johansen, Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson. But the Predators’ top scoring line against Colorado was their third line of center Nick Bonino with Austin Watson and Colton Sissons, who combined for 19 points. The Jets can match Nashville’s scoring depth with seven players scoring at least 43 points in the regular season led by Blake Wheeler (91 points) and Patrik Laine (team-high 44 goals).SO DEFENSIVENashville has four of the NHL’s best defensemen in Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis, Subban and Mattias Ekholm. But the group that led the league with 55 goals only had one goal in the first round, and that came in Game 6 from Ekholm. Subban says defending comes first for a team that ranked second in the regular season in allowing both the second-fewest goals (204) and average goals per game (2.49).—