WINNIPEG -- The emotions of the moment were too strong for even the normally reserved Dustin Byfuglien to ignore Tuesday.
There he was, having scored the go-ahead goal at 19:15 of the second period to put the Winnipeg Jets up 4-3, their first lead of the game.
Inside Bell MTS Place, the white-clad capacity crowd of 15,321 went bonkers. Outside, thousands of fans on Donald Street and Graham Avenue at the Jets Street Party were giddy.
The raw joy all around him was so infectious it consumed Byfuglien, so he broke out some of his dance moves. All 6-foot-5, 260 pounds of him.
"It was just kind of the spirit of the moment," Byfuglien said. "I've probably danced a couple of times in my day, but not lately."
On this night, he had reason to.
After falling behind 3-0 to the Nashville Predators in the first period, the Jets rebounded for a 7-4 victory in Game 3 of the Western Conference Second Round. The Jets lead the best-of-7 series 2-1, with Game 4 here Thursday (9:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS).
Byfuglien's contributions cut far deeper than his enthusiastic jig. The defenseman had three points (two goals, one assist), was plus-3, played a game-high 27:12 and delivered three hits, all of the bone-crushing variety.
Byfuglien's performance did not surprise his teammates. Not as much as his dance moves did.
"It's nice to see him get a little excited," said Jets captain Blake Wheeler, who scored the game-winner on a power play at 15:01 of the third period to put Winnipeg up 5-4. "It's tough just to get him to smile.
"Obviously I'm being a little sarcastic here, but get him feeling like himself and what are you going to do?"
Though Wheeler had three points (two goals, one assist), he said Byfuglien was a difference-maker. Again.
"I think [Byfuglien] gets a little bit of a long leash," Wheeler said. "He's so dynamic that he keeps plays alive and can make some really special things happen with the puck.
"He's the great equalizer. There's nobody like him. Having him on our team gives us an advantage no matter who we play. That's the type of player he is, and from Game 1 of the playoffs he has just dominated.
"You can't stop it."
In the first period it was the Jets who were stopping themselves.
They fumbled passes and shot wide. Goalie Connor Hellebuyck was beaten three times on the first 12 shots he faced.
With the normally raucous building blanketed in silence, Jets coach Paul Maurice went into the dressing room and delivered a simple message.
"If we win or lose," he said, "we can't do it playing tentatively. That's not us. That's not the way we play."
Message received. For the next 40 minutes, they didn't.
In the next two periods the Jets outscored the Predators 7-1 and outshot them 35-18.
"Momentum's a crazy thing at this time of year and our fans are huge," Wheeler said. "It's real, too. Our crowd noise is from the crowd. It's not from speakers or music or live bands or whatever. That's people making noise, and that goes right through your body.
"When they're cheering for you and our team gets rolling downhill like that, it creates a ton of momentum for us. We fed off it even in the regular season, but you get that crowd going in the playoffs and every guy gets an extra jump in their step."
Defenseman Jacob Trouba said the city-wide frenzy over the Jets can't be ignored.
"I think you drink it in," Trouba said. "It's not like it can go in one ear and out the other. You drive home and there are signs everywhere. Businesses have signs about the team. It's pretty special to be in this town for this. You'll look back on this when you're old and have good memories from it.
"It's a tough time getting into the rink, I'll tell you that. It's a little slow from the traffic. Everyone's excited. The whole city's excited. It's great."
Nashville coach Peter Laviolette learned about Jets-mania first hand. When asked why he didn't call a time out after Winnpeg had scored three goals in 2:51 of the second period, he said no one would have heard him anyway because of the noise.
Byfuglien doesn't normally get caught up in such hoopla. On Tuesday he had reason to.
"I want to win every night," he said. "I believe everyone does. It's just a matter of coming to the rink, just playing hard, doing my job best as I can do it. Hopefully the guys can follow and get some energy out of it."
They did.
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