Uh-oh, fading to black…

Sea of white roars, but Jets unable to get past Ducks and trail series 3-0

By: Ed Tait Posted: 3:00 AM CDT Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2015

It's not a particularly pleasing sound, hearing the air surge out of the biggest party balloon this town has ever seen.

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It's not a particularly pleasing sound, hearing the air surge out of the biggest party balloon this town has ever seen.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/04/2015 (3848 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s not a particularly pleasing sound, hearing the air surge out of the biggest party balloon this town has ever seen.

But at exactly 11:20 p.m. Monday, Rickard Rakell of the Anaheim Ducks took a gi-normous pin and slammed it straight into the heart of the Winnipeg Jets’ playoff party — the first in these parts since 1996 — scoring the game-winner at the 5:12 mark of overtime to give the Western Conference’s top seed a 5-4 win and a 3-0 stranglehold on their opening-round Stanley Cup playoff series.

Game 4 goes Wednesday night and, barring a small miracle, the Winnipeg Whiteout will be sporting black arm bands before long.

John Woods/Winnipeg Free Press
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THE HEARTACHE

The Jets, as has been the story in all three games of the series, carried a lead into the third period only to see the Ducks rally in the dying moments. Ryan Kesler buried a shot past Ondrej Pavelec with just 2:14 left in regulation before Rakell tipped home a Francois Beauchemin shot early in the OT.

The winner came after another wave of Ducks pressure, with Andrew Cogliano forcing a turnover behind the Jets’ net before feeding the point.

And so, get this: The Ducks, who have led for just over 10 minutes total in this entire series, still have a 3-0 grip on the thing.

REALITY HYPE

Rarely, if ever, does a game framed with this kind of buildup match the hype. But this night was absolutely everything as advertised… times 2. The crowd, sporting every imaginable white garb and accessory, let roar with its first “Go Jets Go” chant with 11 minutes left… in the pre-game warm-up.

It was at full throat during O Canada, spit out “Kesler sucks” before the opening faceoff, tormented Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen all evening and busted out a mocking “Katy Perry” chant aimed at sniper Corey Perry in the third period.

It picked the Jets up when they were scored on and was up on its feet as soon as any sign of a lull appeared about to settle in to the proceedings. It even serenaded the team with another “Go Jets Go!” farewell as the dejected crew left the ice after Rakell’s dramatics.

In short, it was exactly what this team needed after coming home from California down 0-2 in the series.

Fuelled by Passion? Absolutely. There can be a lot of pent-up frustration, excitement — everything — when a town hasn’t played host to an NHL playoff game since 1996.

But worth noting here: Dating back to Jets 1.0, the home side had lost six series in the row with the Whiteout serving as the backdrop.

SOME GOOD, A LOT OF

SAME OLD, SAME OLD

The Jets came into the game with zero goals from their top line of Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little and Michael Frolik and just one — courtesy Drew Stafford in Game 1 — from their Top 6. But it was Little who scored the go-ahead goal, burying a brutal Cam Fowler giveaway with a top-shelf slapper late in the second period. He wasn’t the only sniper to pull the trigger, as Blake Wheeler also found the back of the net, as well as Lee Stempniak and Tyler Myers, the latter coming on the power play — Winnipeg’s first man-advantage goal of the series.

But the Jets pairing of Dustin Byfuglien (minus-3) and Adam Pardy (minus-2) struggled and they once again took their foot off the gas late.

THE SIGN OF A CHAMP

The Ducks’ third-period counterpunch has been their trademark all season. They entered the game as the first team in Stanley Cup playoffs history to take a 2-0 series lead when trailing at the start of the third period in two games, and did it again.

They now have 21 wins — 18 in the regular season, an NHL record and now three in the playoffs — when trailing at any point in the final period. That’s what battle-tested looks like. And it’s what battle-tested does to spoil what could have been a damn fine party.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait