Bryan Little had two goals for Jets in win over Ducks – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
It’s difficult to consider the depths the Anaheim Ducks are now plumbing this season.
On Saturday night, the Ducks travels to Winnipeg and surrendered six goals to the Jets in the first period.
Six.
Jack Roslovic scored two of his three goals on the night in the opening frame.
“Felt good,” said Roslovic, who was a game-time decision after leaving the morning skate with muscle cramps. “I’m not a big goal scorer so I haven’t had a hat trick in a while. And to get one in the NHL [was] pretty nice.”
Connor Hellebuyck, who made 26 saves in the win; he also picked up an assist in the game.
The Jets improved to 34-16-2.
“Obviously, a really good start against a team coming off of their 10-day break,” Jets forward Andrew Copp said. “We were lucky the other team was coming off a break. We kind of took advantage of that aspect and played it out.”
Copp, Blake Wheeler, Bryan Little, and Brendan Lemieux all scored in the first period to stake the Jets to the 6-0 lead.
“To give up six in the first period, unacceptable,” said Ducks forward Corey Perry, who made his season debut after having knee surgery in September. “We as a team have to be better, have to be better in front of [goalie John Gibson]. It’s not the way you want to start a hockey game because spotting them six (goals) in the first, you’re never going to win that way.”
Unacceptable or not, they did and it was ugly.
Tyler Myers also scored for the Jets and Little added a second goal to the sheet.
Nick Ritchie, Daniel Sprong and Devin Shore had the ‘so what’ goals for the Ducks.
[WATCH: All Ducks vs. Jets highlights]
John Gibson got the start and was given the hook after making just eight saves and yielding six goals.
“Our personnel has to understand what happened tonight is unacceptable and we’re going to hold some people accountable to the way that they’re playing,” Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle said. “With ice time, they’re going to sit in the stands. There are various ways to do it but it’s one of those things that I never expected us to perform like we did tonight with the group that we have coming off of a nine-day break.
“I figured we would have a little bit of a lull, that we would get our feet underneath us but we didn’t initiate enough and didn’t get involved enough in the hockey game to even be satisfied.”
Chad Johnson made 14 saves in a mop up role.
Unacceptable was a common thread in the post game. But the Ducks are 2-11-4 in their last 17 games. That is unacceptable. The six goals in the first period Saturday night was just a symptom of the lackluster play across the bench.
“When you’re in these types of situations, there’s no other way to do it other than to just show up again tomorrow and try and show up with a better attitude and a better mindset on how you’re going to compete and how you’re going to play and practice,” Ryan Getzlaf said.
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