Round 1, game 4, Vegas Golden Knights vs. Winnipeg Jets, 8:30 p.m.
Knights lead series 2-1.
Sportsnet West (and maybe other Sportsnets, I dunno, the Shaw on-screen guide doesn't say).

So . . .

Series starts, Jets play well, win first game. Second game starts, after one period Jets look like they're on track to win again.

Fifth period, things turn. Vegas comes on. Sixth period the same. Vegas wins.

Next game, first period, seventh of the series, Vegas still on stop. Same with eighth period of the series, now Vegas leads game 4-1.

Each team has had, more or less, four consecutive periods go its way. How will the ninth one go?

Well, it went pretty damn well for the Jets and they tied the game up, seemingly extending the four-on-four-off pattern of regulation periods.

So how will regulation periods 10, 11 and 12 go today?

If the pattern holds up -- and the two goalies play to their historical norms (a BIG if given Hellebuyck's leakiness) -- Jets should be going back to Tackytown tied at two games.

Of course, life -- and sports -- don't normally fit into neat little boxes like that. If the Jets want to win they're going to need more than a coincidental example of symmetry to pull it off. They're going to have to work properly and think properly, and when they don't have time to think properly they're going to need their instincts at a state of razor sharpness. They've done all of that before -- in very few instances. It's time to see it more often, starting tonight at 8:30 p.m.

After that, they can toss the "symmetry" in the trash and start an opposite meme.