Jets can’t fly with Ducks

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This article was published 22/04/2015 (3816 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was the Winnipeg Jets who first posed the question, scribbling a rallying cry on the whiteboard in their dressing room Wednesday morning:

‘Why Not Us?’

And it was the Anaheim Ducks who provided a resounding answer Wednesday night.

Why not the Jets? Because, simply put, the Ducks are better. They’re better up front and along the blue-line. They have more depth, more experience… more everything.

The Ducks snuffed out the last flicker of hope for the Jets’ 2014-15 season in front of another raucous whiteout house at the MTS Centre in a 5-2 victory that was absolutely, positively textbook playoff hockey.

Anaheim’s four-game sweep does two things:

1. It punches their ticket to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, where they’ll face either the Calgary Flames or Vancouver Canucks. And;

2. It also means the Jets/Atlanta Thrashers remain the only NHL franchise without a playoff victory. They are now 0-8, including the New York Rangers sweep of Atlanta in 2007.

“It was a tough series and it didn’t end the way we wanted it to,” said Jets centre Bryan Little, who finished with a goal and an assist. “It was still a great experience, definitely one of the highlights of my career.

“It’s hard right now. It doesn’t even feel like it’s over. But I think this makes everyone hungrier for next year. We got a taste of it and now we want more.”

 

PLAYING THE ROLE OF THE VILLAINS… AND LOVING IT

It was old friend-turned-nemesis Ryan Kesler — the one-time member of the Manitoba Moose — who jammed the dagger straight into the Jets’ collective hearts Wednesday, scoring twice in the third period with goals that gave the Ducks 3-1 and 4-2 advantages.

The veteran centre, who said Tuesday he loved the ‘Kesler Sucks!’ chants by the MTS Centre faithful, backed up that statement as his line, including Andrew Cogliano and Jakob Silfverberg, accounted for three of the four goals in another steady performance. The other Ducks sniper sporting a black hat and loving it was Corey Perry. He picked up two points and finished the four-game series with seven points (three goals, four assists).

But it wasn’t just those two that did the heavy lifting for the Ducks. Anaheim’s defensive corps consistently took away shooting lanes, Frederik Andersen displayed a knack for making a critical save at critical times and the Ducks role players were way more visible from the start to finish.

“Our guys did a great job tonight of answering everything that was thrown at us,” said Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf. “Our goalie once again played great. We had some guys step up and score some big goals for us.

“We thought this might have been a little bit more of a longer series. I was happy with the way our group responded. Hard-fought series. There was a lot of bodies thrown around. You look at the scoresheets at the end of the night, we’ve got the bruises to prove it. It’s nice to have that little rest now.”

MAURICE THE CHEMIST

Looking for any kind of formula to success, Jets coach Paul Maurice opened the game with four new line combinations, moving Drew Stafford to right wing with Andrew Ladd and Bryan Little, reuniting Mark Scheifele, Mathieu Perreault and Blake Wheeler, having Jiri Tlusty and Michael Frolik flanking Adam Lowry, and Jim Slater between Lee Stempniak and Chris Thorburn.

The back end was exempt from the experimentation, either, as Mark Stuart was paired with Dustin Byfuglien, Jacob Trouba with Ben Chiarot (who was activated for Adam Pardy) and keeping the Tyler Myers-Toby Enstrom duo intact.

The end result was, frankly, predictable. There wasn’t much chemistry from any of the lines, passes missed sticks and the Jets occasionally had trouble exiting their zone.

All told, the Jets managed to get 27 shots on Andersen, but had 15 more blocked.

 

ANOTHER PARTY SPOILED

If there was any notion the Game 4 crowd couldn’t match the intensity of the crew here for Game 3 on Monday — who made the return of the Stanley Cup playoffs to Winnipeg for the first time since 1996 absolutely memorable — it was erased in the third period with the Jets vainly trying to mount a comeback.

Stuart had narrowed the gap to 3-2 midway through the final frame when, during a TV timeout, the crowd rose and chanted ‘Go Jets Go!’ for the entire break. They rose with another standing ovation when Sami Vatanen made it 5-2 with 27 seconds left, rifling a shot 160 feet into an empty Jets net.

And, to cap it off, they remained in their seats as the two sides shook hands to end the series. One day, some day the hockey club will reward their faithful with a playoff win.

It just won’t be this spring.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait