|
 Rakell, just a few weeks shy of his 22nd birthday, redirected a
point shot past goalie Ondrej Pavelec at 5:12 of overtime to lift
the Ducks to a 5-4 triumph over the Winnipeg Jets and a
strangle-hold of their first-round Western Conference playoff
series.
Ducks blueliner Francois Beauchemin settled the puck at the blue
line and let a shot go that Rakell tipped in for his first goal of
the playoff series.
The Ducks have a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven opening-round clash
with the Jets.
Winnipeg hosts Game 4 on Wednesday night.
"We had a good forecheck going there, and (center Andrew Cogliano)
made a good pass up to Beauch," said Rakell, a native of Sundbyberg,
Sweden.
"Beauch made a great shot, finding my blade there. I just tried to
deflect it to the net. It felt good."
For the third straight game in the series, the Jets owned a one-goal
lead to begin the third period -- this time up 4-3 -- but couldn't
protect it.
Ducks center Ryan Kesler scored the tying goal at 17:46 after taking
a pass from right winger Jakob Silfverberg and beating Pavelec. It
was Kesler's first goal of the series, while Silfverberg registered
his third point of the night.
"We don't stop believing in that room. It's been like that all
year," said Kesler. "To do it in the playoffs in three straight
games is pretty special. There's something special growing in that
locker room right now."
Anaheim led the NHL with 12 come-from-behind victories during the
regular season when behind through 40 minutes.
Winnipeg hockey fans celebrated the return of playoff hockey to
Winnipeg with a complete 'whiteout' of the MTS Centre. Dressed head
to toe in their finest whites, lucky ticket holders resurrected a
tradition that began in the 1980s when the first edition of the Jets
skated in the NHL.
Even the weather cooperated as snow flurries hit the city for the
first time in a couple of weeks.
But the Ducks wouldn't cooperate, refusing to go away despite
trailing at three different points in the game.
"It's happened quite a bit and I know I get redundant in what I'm
saying, but you never think it's going to end. You think there's
going to be opportunities in the third period," said Anaheim head
coach Bruce Boudreau. "(The Jets) were defending so well just
getting it deep and I didn't think we were going to get any chances,
then Silfverberg makes a great play to Kesler to tie it up and then
you never know."
Anaheim defenseman Sami Vatanen took a delay-of-game penalty at
18:11 of the final frame to re-energize the crowd after Kesler's
tally. Jets center Bryan Little had two spectacular chances to score
on the power play, but he hit the post on a slap shot and then, just
seconds later, was robbed by Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen.
In the extra period, Pavelec made three tremendous saves but
couldn't find the winner through traffic.
Pavelec stopped 25 shots, while Andersen turned aside 31 drives by
the Jets.
[to top of second column] |
Ducks right winger Corey Perry scored his third goal of the series,
Silfverberg notched his second, while defenseman Cam Fowler ripped
his first.
Right wingers Lee Stempniak and Blake Wheeler, Little and defenseman
Tyler Myers scored their first goals of the series for the Jets.
Afterward, Wheeler seemed almost in disbelief that he had to discuss
another loss.
"It's hard, more of the same," he said. "We lead the whole damned
series and we're 0-3. That's the way it goes. That's hockey. We've
just got to find a way to get that first one.
"We've got to win four games. We've won four in a row before. The
first one's going to be the hardest, apparently, so we have to lick
our wounds tonight. It's going to hurt but the sun's going to rise
tomorrow and we have to re-focus for Game 4."
The noise from the crowd was deafening, right from the pregame
skate. But Stempniak really gave Jets fans something to scream about
at 9:38 of the first period when he took a pass from rookie center
Adam Lowry and swiped the puck past Andersen.
The goal was the first by the Jets in an NHL playoff game in the
Manitoba capital since the spring of 1996, when defenseman Norm
MacIver lit the lamp against the Detroit Red Wings just before the
Jets relocated to Phoenix.
Stempniak said the white-clad masses did all they could to fuel the
Jets.
"There was a ton of energy. We've got great fans," offered
Stempniak, picked up by the Jets from the New York Rangers at the
NHL trade deadline. "As soon as I came over, that's one of the first
things you realize as an opposing player. But once you're here and
every night you encounter that fan support, it's awesome."
NOTES: Ducks RW Chris Wagner, injured in Game 2 on Saturday, was
replaced in the lineup by LW Tomas Fleischmann. ... Anaheim C Nate
Thompson (upper body) participated in the morning skate, but he
didn't play in Game 3. He might be available for Game 4 on
Wednesday. ... Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice went with the same lineup
he used in Game 2, sticking with LW Mathieu Perreault and D Adam
Pardy in place of LW Matt Halischuk and D Ben Chiarot. ... Anaheim C
Ryan Kesler scored 30 goals during the 2004-05 AHL season with the
Manitoba Moose, but that was long forgotten as Jets fans chanted an
anti-Kesler saying during the pregame skate and loudly booed him at
every turn. ... NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was in town for the
first playoff action in Winnipeg since 1996.
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