NASHVILLE Matt Read Jersey Womens , Tenn. (AP) Dustin Byfuglien busted out his dance moves for a little celebration of his latest big goal, which may have caught many people by surprise.Not his teammates.”He’s so loose before games,” Winnipeg center Bryan Little said. ”He’s a joker, definitely the prankster on the team. It’s strange for me to see him talking to you guys in front of the camera. It’s like, `That’s not who I know.”’The 6-foot-5, 260-pound Byfuglien is making a big impression on the NHL playoffs on both ends of the ice as the Jets have muscled their way to within one win of Winnipeg’s first berth in the Western Conference Final. Timely goals, rugged defense, leadership – it’s all part of his game. He dropped jaws during the second-round series against the Predators by literally manhandling two Nashville players, one in each hand.His journey back to the postseason has been a long one, but the 33-year-old Byfuglien has made Winnipeg his home and is a key reason the Jets are Canada’s last surviving team this postseason. The last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup was Montreal in 1993, and the 25-year drought is a painful one in the home of hockey.Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler considers Byfuglien a ”great equalizer” and unlike anybody else in the NHL.”Having him on our team gives us an advantage no matter who we play,” Wheeler said. ”That’s the type of player he is and from Game 1 of the playoffs, he has just dominated. You can’t stop it.”Byfuglien is making the most of his deepest postseason run since helping Chicago win the Stanley Cup in 2010,Not only has he been a strong counter to Nashville by outplaying a group often considered the NHL’s best top four defensemen Matt Hendricks Jersey Womens , Byfuglien is leading all defensemen this postseason with four goals. He’s also tied with Boston’s Torey Krug for most points with 12 while skating an average of 26 minutes, 25 seconds a game.Byfuglien started the Jets’ rally in Game 3 against Nashville from a 3-0 deficit by scoring the first goal and his tying goal prompted his little dance. He wound up with the game-winning goal in Winnipeg’s 6-2 victory Saturday night that put the Jets on the verge of clinching only their second series – all this postseason.”What makes him unique is he can, I don’t know if `take over’ is right, but he can make an impact in a game in just about every single way possible,” Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said. ”He can defend, he can play real physical, nobody wants to drop the gloves with him, and then there’s an offensive side, it’s a perfectly placed shot, quick hands, all the other things that he can do offensively.”And Chicago gave all that potential up in 2010. Byfuglien switched from defense to forward for the Blackhawks and scored three game-winning goals in a sweep of San Jose in the Western Conference finals for the franchise’s first Stanley Cup Final since 1992. He had a hat trick against Vancouver in the conference semifinals.But the Blackhawks were strapped for salary cap space after contract extensions for Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith on top of pricey deals for Marian Hossa and Brian Campbell. Byfuglien was traded away to the then-Atlanta Thrashers, a franchise that relocated to Winnipeg in 2011.”There’s only one Dustin Byfuglien, and you want him on your team Womens Torey Krug Jersey ,” Little said. ”You can’t imagine what it would be like playing against him. There’s only one of him. You can’t really compare him to anyone out there.”Winnipeg has become home to Byfuglien. The town is just 115 miles as the crow flies from where he grew up in Roseau, Minnesota. Since the franchise moved to Winnipeg, Byfuglien married, and has three children. The Jets rewarded him in February 2016 with a five-year, $38 million contract to make him a key piece of the Jets’ future.He just isn’t a big talker. Asked where his dance came from in Game 2, Byfuglien said he didn’t know.He sure is talking to his teammates, trying to share his experience from that 2010 Cup run and offering advice on how to handle what they hope is a two-month run.”We’ve obviously talked as a group,” Byfuglien said. ”It’s not going to be an easy ride. It’s just take one game at a time, one shift at a time, and just believe in each other.”Having Big Buff around certainly provides a confidence boost,”Any time he’s on the ice, it’s dangerous,” Little said.— Auston Matthews got a taste of playoff hockey last season. Patrik Laine has been waiting two years for this.The third pick in the 2016 draft? Well, Pierre-Luc Dubois is taking a surprising star turn in the spotlight of the NHL playoffs Tuukka Rask Jersey , too.Matthews, Laine, Dubois and 2017 top picks Nico Hischier and Nolan Patrick look unfazed as they handle significant responsibilities in the postseason. For the first time since 1991, four teenagers have scored a goal in the first round of the playoffs, and all five budding superstars are in top-six forward roles, combining for five goals and six assists.”These guys are young guys,” Toronto coach Mike Babcock said after Matthews’ Game 3 winner against Boston was the 20-year-old center’s first point of the series.”They’re playing against real players and they’re young guys. You’ve got to go through some of these slappings in your life to kind of respond and learn how to respond and do things right.”They’ve been doing a lot of things right all season. Matthews’ 34 goals led the Maple Leafs; Laine’s 43 for Winnipeg were second in the NHL; Hischier’s 48 points were second on the Devils; and Patrick’s 30 and gradual improvement earned him a promotion to the Flyers‘ second-line center spot.Dubois was a bit of a surprise pick by Columbus behind Matthews and Laine at the 2016 draft, and he didn’t break into the NHL right away. Dubois wasn’t expected to mature this quickly and doesn’t get the kind of attention as last season’s top finishers for rookie of the year, but he’s used to that by now.”I’ve always been the guy kind of under the radar,” said Dubois, whose 48 points were third on the Blue Jackets. ”All my life it’s been pretty much like that. I don’t really look to impress other people. I just want to play well. I’ve never been the guy that everybody talked about, so it never really fazed me.”Dubois most impressively has earned the trust of old-school coach John Tortorella enough to be the Blue Jackets’ No. 1 center at age 19. Tortorella uses Dubois as an example to show older players how to handle situations, an ultimate sign of respect from a Stanley Cup-winning coach who doesn’t hesitate to put him on the ice against opposing stars.”He accepted it, he excelled Zdeno Chara Jersey ,” Tortorella said. ”He has a mental toughness for a 19-year-old kid, to accept that type of responsibility and want more. It’s a different guy. You’ve got to be careful with young kids, but he has showed me tremendous progress and instant mental toughness as I’ve gotten to know him as the season’s gone on.”Laine isn’t tracking the stats of the other players in his draft class, but he knows how they are doing. Similarly, Dubois enjoys watching Matthews and Laine while trying not to compare himself to them.”They’re obviously really great players,” said Dubois, who picked up two assists in his first playoff game and scored a goal in his third. ”I know my game and people that know my game know that we’re all different players. There’s the offensive side of it, there’s the defensive side, there’s everything. Everything’s different about our games.”Production ties them together with Hischier and Patrick, who also don’t look out of place at all in their first playoffs at 19.New Jersey coach John Hynes said Hischier has been one of the Devils’ best players, which is the continuation of a season of learning for the first Swiss No. 1 pick.”I’ve seen every city, every rink and just for me it was a lot of experience this year, and guys helped me a lot,” said Hischier Eric Fehr Jersey Womens , who scored in Game 2 against Tampa Bay and played more than 17 minutes in the Devils’ Game 3 win. ”Just all around I think I grew as a person and as a hockey player.”Patrick wasn’t putting up a lot of points in the first half of the season but still felt he was playing well. Philadelphia coach Dave Hakstol felt good enough about Patrick’s game that he promoted him and has reaped the benefits for the past couple of months and in the first round against Pittsburgh.”It’s nice for your confidence,” Patrick said. ”I think I kind of progressed through the year and kept getting better with every role they put me in.”Big roles aren’t a problem for Matthews and Laine, who are key drivers of play for the Leafs and Jets. Toronto finally got going against the Bruins in large part because of Matthews, who said he felt an earthquake in his feet when he scored in Game 3 and let out a scream to match.After Laine scored the tying goal in Game 1 against Minnesota in what became the Jets franchise’s first playoff victory, he motioned to fans for cheers before jumping into the glass. The Finnish winger is used to scoring goals – and a lot of them – but in the playoffs it’s even more special.”It was maybe a little bit nicer,” Laine said. ”I was saving my goals and celebrations for the playoffs. Now I can celly (celebrate) a little bit harder.”—AP Sports Writer Dave Campbell in St. Paul, Minnesota, contributed.—