Ducks sink Jets 3-2

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This article was published 23/01/2017 (3154 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dripping in sweat and disappointment, Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler struggled to put into words what had transpired over the previous few hours.

The Jets had fallen to the visiting Anaheim Ducks, 3-2, at the MTS Centre Monday night, but for Wheeler, the score alone did little to tell the story.

He dismissed special teams being a major factor, despite the Jets being scored on short-handed and the Ducks adding another goal on a power play. Wheeler, who has often been the catalyst for the Jets through what success they have had this season, then bemoaned the perception often placed on his team by the local media following losses.

After that, he took his chance to set the story straight.

“Sometimes, the score isn’t always a good indicator — we played our butts off,” said Wheeler. “Just because we lost the game doesn’t mean we got our asses kicked all night… we did a lot of good things.”

The Jets did do some good things. But as is the case in most their losses, it just wasn’t enough.

A hot start from the Jets was erased by a quick response from the Ducks. When the game got physical, as it often did throughout the night, it was Anaheim that seemed to get the upper hand — both literally and figurately — during the many scrums that broke out after whistles.

Asked if the Jets, a team that in recent years has shifted from a big-and-physical style of game to a more modern style that favours speed and skill, were well-equipped for these hard-nosed games, head coach Paul Maurice did little to make excuses for his team.

“Well enough,” said Maurice, his voice shifting to a more stern tone. “They’ve got more there, with some veteran guys that play that role. There wouldn’t be a lot of those teams. I’m not sure it’s the model. It works for them quite well.”

With the loss, the Jets fell to 22-24-4, and for the ninth time this season failed to string together a third consecutive win after victories over the Arizona Coyotes and St. Louis Blues last week. Dating to last season, the Jets are now 1-17-2 in games after winning two in a row.

The Ducks improved to 27-14-9, finishing 1-1 on a two-game road trip that opened Saturday with a 5-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild.

With 63 points, the Ducks maintained first place in the Pacific Division, ahead of the San Jose Sharks, who play Winnipeg tonight, following Monday’s 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche.

A hot start

It was the exactly the kind of quick start the Jets have preached about all season.

On Saturday, in a 5-3 win over St. Louis, Bryan Little’s power-play marker seven minutes into the game helped set the tone for Winnipeg. On Monday, Andrew Copp gave the Jets a 1-0 lead two minutes, 14 seconds into the game, converting on a pass from Mark Scheifele up the middle before beating Ducks goalie Jonathan Bernier with an accurate shot blocker-side.

The goal was Copp’s second in the last three games and sixth of the season — one shy of the seven he scored in 77 games last season. It was also Copp’s first goal playing on the top line with Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers — a promotion that came following an injury to winger Drew Stafford (who had taken over for the injured Patrik Laine).

“It was good for the confidence,” said Copp. “Like anybody else, you score and you get a good jump.”

But rather than the Jets building steam, it was the Ducks who would come to life, scoring twice in the frame to take a 2-1 lead into the second period.

The Ducks evened the score with a short-handed marker, which put a temporary black eye on a part of the Jets’ game that had flourished in recent weeks. Before facing Anaheim, Winnipeg had scored 11 power-play goals over a 12-game stretch, including three goals Saturday against a stingy Blues unit ranked fifth in the NHL on the penalty kill with an 84.4 per cent success rate.

Against Anaheim (ranked 10th on the PK before Monday’s games), a breakdown by the Jets just inside the Ducks’ zone led to an odd-man rush up ice. Joel Armia would eventually catch up to the extra Ducks forward, Logan Shaw, but when a shot from Cam Fowler bounced off the right pad of Winnipeg goalie Ondrej Pavelec, it was Shaw who won the battle in front, shoving the puck into the net to make it 1-1.

The goal energized the Ducks, who promptly took the lead 85 seconds later. Rickard Rakell scored his 20th of the season on a bad-angled shot near the right corner that beat Pavelec just above his glove.

Pavelec, who was making his third consecutive start since being recalled from the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, made 24 saves to fall to 2-1. Maurice said he liked Pavelec’s effort, but wouldn’t commit to playing him tonight against the Sharks.

“Players do it, I don’t see why goalies can’t do it as well,” Pavelec said when asked if he would be able to go on back-to-back nights.

A rough second

Neither team would find the back of the net in the second period, but it was in the middle frame when things started to get out of control.

With the Jets already without forward Mathieu Perreault (lost to a slash by Ducks forward Corey Perry in the first period), tempers boiled over on the final whistle after Scheifele appeared to take a check to the head from Ryan Kesler.

The play caused a commotion near the Ducks’ bench, and carried all the way into Anaheim’s end, where Wheeler and Perry were both without their gloves and looking to tussle. Wheeler declined to discuss the matter and dismissed the belief it was the result of some lingering animosity from when the two teams met in the 2015 NHL playoffs (the Ducks swept the Jets 4-0).

“I think there’s built-in animosity any time we play anyone right now,” said Wheeler. “We’re in 11th place right now, so we’re trying to fight for our lives.”

Third a force 

The Jets wouldn’t go away quietly in the third, even after the Ducks increased their lead to 3-1 with a goal from Ryan Getzlaf, who redirected the puck through the legs of Pavelec on a power play midway through the period.

They’d be rewarded for their effort with a goal from Ehlers, who broke in on the left side before cutting in front to beat Bernier, his legs coming out from under him as he slid the puck into the net. But as has been the case so many times this season, it was too little to late.

Next up for the Jets is another Western Conference team destined for the playoffs: San Jose.

The Jets should get a much-needed boost as Laine is expected to make his return to the lineup against the Sharks. Laine has missed the last eight games with a concussion he sustained Jan. 7.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton