from Joe Rexrode of The Tennessean,

There’s always a “feeling out” stage in the first game of any professional sports seven-game series of note, and Friday’s ended right around the time Nashville’s Viktor Arvidsson and Winnipeg’s Jacob Trouba traded pops to the face in front of the Winnipeg net.

That happened eight minutes into the first period of Game 1 of the Western Conference semis between the Predators and Jets. Colton Sissons accelerated the meet-and-greet process by sending Adam Lowry into the boards. Everyone was settled in nicely by the time 260-pound Dustin Byfuglien uprooted 200-pound Sissons and applied him to the glass like a fridge magnet.

The hits came early, and kept coming, Friday at Bridgestone Arena. And Winnipeg eventually landed the ones that matter.

They absorbed 15 minutes of Nashville domination, took advantage of the first Preds mistake, took advantage of a little luck, brushed off the early cobwebs and skated away with a 4-1 win. The Jets owned Broadway and silenced Bridgestone on a Friday night. Not an easy trick. Definitely an impressive one.

It’s one game. I still like this thing to end up right around seven. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t several juicy panic points already. Home ice is gone, like that, and the Predators are going to have to win at least one in an equally imposing arena, Bell MTS Place.

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Below, watch the game highlights.