LDN - Sports

Special teams success guides Ducks past Jets

[January 24, 2017] WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Win the special teams battle, win the game.

That was the recipe for success for the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night as they defeated the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 at the MTS Centre, denying the home team its first three-game winning streak of the season in nine tries.

The visitors killed off all five Winnipeg power plays, scored one short-handed goal and went 1 of 2 with the man advantage themselves.

The Jets also lost left winger Mathieu Perreault in the first period after he took a wicked slash to the forearm from Ducks right winger Corey Perry.

Jonathan Bernier stopped 31 shots in the Anaheim net. Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec, playing his third consecutive game since being recalled from the Manitoba Moose last week, made 24 saves in his first loss of the season.

Center Ryan Getzlaf scored the winning goal on the power play near the mid-way point of the third period. Forwards Logan Shaw (short-handed) and Rickard Rakell (even strength) also scored for the Ducks. The Jets' replies came from wingers Andrew Copp and Nikolaj Ehlers.

"Special teams is one of the biggest things in our league now," Getzlaf said. "It's the way the game is headed. You've got to be sharp in those areas. We won the battle on the wall (on my goal). I just got in behind them and got a tip on it."

His coach, Randy Carlyle, agreed on the importance of special teams.

"Obviously, the power play and penalty kill were the difference in the game," Carlyle said. "We took a lot more penalties than they did, they had more opportunities, but I think our goaltender played a pretty strong game, and that's usually what happens to win on the road."

"If you let them get wheeling around and let them get freedom, they can score goals. I don't think we played a picture-perfect game, but we played a game that was good enough to get us two points. Sometimes it's not the pretty ones you take home and frame, but you look at it and say it's two points and move on."

The Ducks (27-14-9) play arguably the most physical game of any team in the NHL, and while the Jets (22-24-4) are also big, tough and mobile, the Ducks were just a little bit better in every area on this night.

"They're a big strong team the same as us," Getzlaf said. "We have the ability to play those games. We've been playing them a long time with the Kings and the Sharks. Those games are a lot more comfortable for us to play in when things are aggressive and hard-hitting."

Tempers flared as the second period drew to a close when Ducks center Ryan Kesler and Jets center Mark Scheifele got mixed up in front of the Ducks' bench. When Jets captain Blake Wheeler came to Scheifele's aid, Perry jumped on his back, drawing a huge crowd.

Wheeler was furious, and once he regained his footing, he did everything he could to try to get Perry to fight, even going so far as to drop his gloves and undo his helmet strap, causing the sellout crowd to roar its approval. One referee and one linesman had other ideas, however, and they intervened to limit the pair to minor penalties.

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Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec (31) makes a save on Anaheim Ducks center Andrew Cogliano (7) during the third period at MTS Centre. Anaheim wins 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY SportsJones' late 3-pointer helps Texas stun Oklahoma

Bernier, who didn't know he was playing Monday until after the morning skate, said his team needed to rebound after a disappointing 5-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.

"I think we got ourselves in trouble with a lot of (penalties) tonight, but we found a way to win a big game on the road," Bernier said. "We're playing a simple road game. We try to grind them in their zone, and when we get our chances, we seem to put it in their net.

"Any time you score on your penalty kill, you should be able to find a way to win. They have a good power play. They have some heavy shots from the point and some big bodies in front, so it was pretty tough, especially for a goalie. You have to fight through traffic a lot, but we did a really good job with our sticks and covering the slot. They wanted us to spread out, and we didn't do it."

The Jets could have rookie sniper Patrik Laine back in the lineup Tuesday night against the San Jose Sharks after he missed more than two weeks with a concussion. Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said he worked Laine so hard in practice on Sunday that the young Finn was nearly throwing up. He said Laine could have played against the Ducks but he didn't want to give the cornerstone of the franchise too much of a rough ride upon his return to the lineup.

NOTES: Jets RW Drew Stafford (lower body) and G Michael Hutchinson were in the press box. Joining them from the Ducks were RW Jakob Silfverberg (upper body) and D Sami Vatanen. ... Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle played more than nine seasons with the initial version of the Jets and had two stints coaching the Manitoba Moose (prior to them becoming the Jets' farm team) for a total of seven seasons. ... Through the weekend, the Jets had taken 323 shots in January, which ranked fifth in the NHL. They also had given up 331 shots, which was tied for the second most. ... The Ducks swept Winnipeg in four games in the 2015 playoffs, the Jets only postseason appearance since relocating from Atlanta. ... The Ducks led the NHL with a 55.1 percent winning ratio in the faceoff circle through Sunday, two percent higher than the second-best squad, the Colorado Avalanche. Anaheim won 36 of 63 faceoffs Monday.

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