ANAHEIM Calif – They were the feel good story, back in the playoffs for the first time since their return to Winnipeg but they got a hard lesson in playoff hockey as Corey Perry had a four-point game including two goals in the third period to help his Ducks to a 4-2 opening game win and a 1-0 series lead.
“I had a good feeling,” Perry said. “His pad was back over the line. On the second shot, I thought, for sure. From that angle of it, it was over the line. It’s always nice to hear the refs say it’s a good goal.”
The Ducks power play was the key as they went 2 for 3 with the man advantage in the third period. The Jets failed to click on three power play chances of their own during the game.
“In the end, special teams won the game for us,” Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. “That hasn’t happened too often to us this year.”
Ondrej Pavelec started in goal for Winnipeg and was riding a three-game shutout streak coming in but surrendered four goals on 33 shots. He made 29 saves and did have some big stops but will look to bounce back in game two.
Frederik Andersen was in goal for the Ducks and made 25 saves off 27 Jets shots.
Jets got goals from Adam Lowry and Drew Stafford.
Ducks got goals from Sami Vatanen, a pair from Perry, Ryan Getzlaf rounded out the scoring.
The Jets will look to keep better tabs on Perry who had four points and Getzlaf who finished with three points.
“In some ways it’s quite a bit less devastating than some of those losses that we faced two or three weeks ago,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “We weren’t figuring this [playoff run] would be 16-0 or 4-0 [in this series]. They’re a good team. [It’s] their first game at home. We expect the best out of them. There was a lot more good [from] the game for us than the final result.”
These two teams combined for 83 hits in what is being said will be the most physical battle of the first round. The Jets will have to continue their physical style and put more pucks and bodies to the net and try and get there power play clicking.
“We’ve done this all year,” Perry said of his team’s third-period comeback. “We keep playing the same way all season. It doesn’t change just because of the playoffs. You have to [work] harder, but it doesn’t change.”
Game 2 will be a must win on Saturday back at Honda Center for the Jets who showed a bit of their inexperience in the third period tonight allowing three straight Ducks goals.
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