The most highly anticipated series of the playoffs is going the distance.

That it's going seven games might have been predictable, but that won't make it any less exciting Thursday night when the Nashville Predators host the Winnipeg Jets in Game 7 of their second-round series with a berth in the Western Conference Final on the line.

The teams split the first two games of the series at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, and the Jets then took Game 5 by a 6-2 margin on the road.

With that in mind, who will win Game 7?

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WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) Filip Forsberg had two goals and an assist, Pekka Rinne stopped 34 shots for his second shutout of the playoffs, and the Nashville Predators beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-0 on Monday to force a decisive Game 7 in their Western Conference semifinal series.

Viktor Arvidsson also scored twice, including a late empty-netter, and added an assist for the Predators. Roman Josi and Ryan Johansen each had two assists.

Connor Hellebuyck stopped 25 shots for the Jets.

Game 7 is Thursday at Nashville, Tennessee, with the winner advancing to face the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference final.

This back-and-forth series has yet to see a team win consecutive games.

With the Predators up 1-0 after one period, Forsberg doubled the lead at 8:44 of the second on a great solo rush for his sixth of the postseason. After breaking his stick in the defensive zone blocking a shot, the Swedish forward raced to the bench to get a new one as the puck almost simultaneously arrived at his feet. Forsberg stayed onside, fought off Jets defenseman Ben Chairot and beat Hellebuyck short-side before crashing into the net.

Winnipeg had made an earlier push coming out of the first intermission, with Paul Stastny's shot just wide being the best chance after Mathieu Perreault's dump in hit the linesman and caromed into the slot. Stastny also missed from a tight angle off the boards on the follow up on Rinne.

After Forsberg made it 2-0, Rinne was there to stop Adam Lowry with his pad before just getting a piece of Mark Scheifele's shot on an abbreviated 2-on-1 to keep Nashville up by two.

The Jets got their fourth power play of the night early in the third, but Scheifele fired wide on the best opportunity.

Forsberg then took a pass from behind the net, played it between his own legs and beat Hellebuyck for his second of the night and seventh of the playoffs at 5:55.

With Hellebuyck pulled for an extra skater, Arvidsson scored into the empty net with 4:02 left to seal Nashville's win.

While disappointed with the result, the Jets will travel to Music City knowing they've already won twice there in the series, including a 6-2 victory in Game 5 after the Predators ground out a 2-1 decision in Winnipeg in Game 4 to tie the series 2-2.

Nashville took the lead just 62 seconds into the first period to quiet the usual rowdy, white-clad crowd at Bell MTS Place on Arvidsson's fourth. The speedy winger crashed into the end boards after being taken down by Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien. Arvidsson briefly complained to the referee before getting back in the slot just in time to make a defensive deflection of a blast from Josi that looked destined to hit him directly in his head as he dropped to the ice.

Referee Wes McCauley initially waved off the goal that bounced past Hellebuyck for high-sticking, but it was determined after video review that Arvidsson's stick was below the crossbar on the tip.

After one toothless power play, the Jets got a couple of chances on their next man advantage, but Rinne was there to deny Stastny twice on the doorstep before also stopping Patrik Laine's one-timer.

Winnipeg then got its third power play of the period, but it looked a lot like its first as the Predators went to their locker room up 1-0.

Winnipeg had never seen one of its teams win even a single game in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs before this spring.

The old Jets claimed three WHA titles in the 1970s, but the franchise was swept aside by Edmonton in its only two NHL conference semifinal appearances - 1985 and 1987 - before leaving town to become the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996.

The NHL returned to Winnipeg in 2011 when the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to the Manitoba capital, but the new Jets' first foray into the playoffs in 2015 resulted in a four-game ouster in the first round at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks.

The Predators and Jets finished with the two best records during the regular season - Nashville had 117 points to win its first Presidents' Trophy, while Winnipeg was right behind with 114 points.

NOTES: The extra day before Game 7 is due to a Justin Timberlake concert at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday night. ... Teemu Selanne, a member of the original Jets from 1992-96, was in attendance. ... Predators forward Scott Hartnell returned to the lineup after sitting out Game 5 as a healthy scratch. Calle Jarnkrok also drew in for Nashville on the fourth line with Mike Fisher after sitting out the last three.

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Warning: Video and story contain coarse language

Alex Ovechkin couldn't hold back in the afterglow of a cathartic victory Monday night.

The Washington Capitals superstar dropped an F-bomb when asked what was going through his mind when he dished off to Evgeny Kuznetsov before his teammate potted the winner in overtime to eliminate the Pittsburgh Penguins and send the Capitals to the Eastern Conference Final.

Neither Ovechkin nor Kuznetsov are strangers to a little postgame profanity.

Ovi summed up his failure to score his 50th goal of the campaign in the regular-season finale last month by laughing and telling reporters that "shit happens," and he had the same response when asked about the Capitals' Game 1 loss to the Penguins last year.

Kuznetsov also playfully called teammate Nathan Walker "that little motherfucker" after Monday's series-clinching win, and when Ovechkin notched the 600th goal of his career in March, his Russian countryman famously quipped, "Holy fuck, that's a lot of goals."

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Make it two more milestones for the Washington Capitals' trailblazing Aussie.

Nathan Walker made his playoff debut in Game 6 against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night, becoming the first Australian to play in a playoff game, and he later became the first player from that nation to collect a point when he assisted on Alex Chiasson's second-period goal.

Walker was inserted into the lineup Monday on the Capitals' fourth line alongside Jay Beagle and Alex Chiasson, and that line went over the boards less than two minutes into the game.

The 24-year-old forward made history at the beginning of the season when he became the first player from Down Under to play an NHL game, scoring a goal in his debut.

Related: Nathan Walker gets congratulatory call from Australian PM

Walker was waived by the Capitals and then claimed by the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 1, but Edmonton put him back on waivers after a two-game NHL stint, and Washington reclaimed him.

He spent most of the season with the AHL's Hershey Bears, with whom he produced nine goals and 22 points in 40 games.

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The Washington Capitals' two key injured players appear to be good bets to suit up for Game 6 against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night.

Capitals head coach Barry Trotz said defenseman John Carlson is fine, and he expects Nicklas Backstrom to play but cautioned "we'll see where he is (Monday)," according to Isabelle Khurshudyan of The Washington Post.

Carlson was hit up high by Jake Guentzel with about a minute remaining in Saturday's 6-3 Capitals win. Carlson is the Capitals' average ice-time leader in the playoffs (27:02) after having that distinction during the regular season (24:47) and ranks fourth overall in the league in that department during the postseason, to go along with 11 points in as many games.

Backstrom left Saturday's contest in the third period with an injury the club would only describe as an "upper-body" ailment.

The all-world center played only 15:55 in Game 5, and didn't return after his fifth shift of the third frame. Three of Backstrom's last four spells on the ice lasted 11 seconds or fewer, and he departed for good after a nine-second stint with 13:12 remaining in the third period.

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Bruce Cassidy is shaking things up with his club on the brink of elimination.

The Boston Bruins head coach made more than one tweak to his forward lines ahead of Game 5 against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday, with the Bruins trailing the second-round series 3-1.

Here's how they looked ahead of Game 4, which the Lightning won 4-3 in overtime Friday night:

So, to summarize Sunday's changes:

• Ryan Donato is moving up to the second line to play alongside David Krejci and Rick Nash.
• Jake DeBrusk is swapping places with Donato and moving down to the third line with Sean Kuraly and David Backes.
• Backes is taking that spot on the third line, moving up from the fourth unit.
• Riley Nash is drawing back into the lineup, while Brian Gionta is sitting out.

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Jake Guentzel is apparently off the hook.

The Pittsburgh Penguins forward will not face a hearing to answer for his check on Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson in Game 5 of their second-round series Saturday night, The Washington Post's Isabelle Khurshudyan reported Sunday, adding that it was considered a full-body hit.

Guentzel caught Carlson up high behind the Capitals' net with the Penguins trailing 5-3 late in a game they ultimately lost 6-3.

Carlson went to the bench after absorbing the hit, and the club said postgame that he was being evaluated.

Capitals head coach Barry Trotz called it a headshot but stopped short of saying it was suspension-worthy, stating he'd "leave it up to the league."

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It will be a somewhat unfamiliar situation for the two Toronto Maple Leafs goaltenders at the World Championship on Monday.

Curtis McElhinney will start against Denmark, Team Canada head coach Bill Peters told reporters including TSN's Ryan Rishaug on Sunday after McElhinney stopped all 25 shots he faced in Canada's 10-0 destruction of South Korea.

That means he'll square off against his NHL netminding partner, Frederik Andersen, the Maple Leafs starter who's representing the host Danes.

Andersen will have his work cut out for him against a Canadian squad oozing talent including the likes of Connor McDavid, Mathew Barzal, Brayden Schenn, Jordan Eberle, Ryan O'Reilly, Colton Parayko, and Aaron Ekblad.

Denmark earned a shootout win over Germany in its opener Friday before being shut out 4-0 by the United States the next day. Andersen has a .925 save percentage through two games.

McElhinney will be starting his second game in as many days, but he wasn't exactly overworked in his first appearance of the tourney Sunday. Darcy Kuemper played in Canada's shootout loss to the U.S. on Friday.

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Team Canada didn't have much trouble with South Korea on Sunday, and that's putting it mildly.

Tyson Jost scored twice, and he was one of nine Canadian players to light the lamp in a 10-0 victory over South Korea at the World Championship in Denmark.

Canada held a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes but blew it wide open with a six-goal second period. South Korea was out-shot 50-25 in the game.

Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle, Brayden Schenn, Colton Parayko, Ryan O'Reilly, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Joel Edmundson potted the other goals for Canada.

Curtis McElhinney made 25 saves for the shutout.

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Kevin Fiala's absence from the Nashville Predators lineup will apparently be a short one.

The young forward told Brooks Bratten of the club's communications department that he saw his name on the lineup for Game 5 against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night.

Fiala will draw in for veteran Scott Hartnell, while the rest of the lineup is expected to mirror that of Game 4, according to The Tennessean's Adam Vingan.

The veteran Hartnell replaced Fiala in Game 4, which the Predators won 2-1 on Thursday night,

Fiala played in the first three contests in Nashville's second-round series against Winnipeg after appearing in all six games of the opening-round matchup against the Colorado Avalanche.

The 21-year-old scored in two of the three against the Jets before sitting out Thursday. He chipped in with a goal and an assist in the first round.

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