WINNIPEG MB- The Winnipeg Jets were looking to close out the season on a high note especially at home. They welcomed one of the top teams in the West to town, the Anaheim Ducks, who were on a five-game winning streak and were looking for the season sweep against the Jets.
The Ducks are a very strong, physical team that the Jets would love to become in the future and no better measuring stick then one of the best.
Michael Hutchinson got the start in the Jets net his fourth start this month.
Winnipeg came out looking to get one early but couldn’t find the net on a couple great chances as Jonathan Bernier shut the door for the Ducks.
“We’ve got to stay positive here. I thought we played a really solid 40 minutes. You don’t want to lose, but at the same time sometimes it’s a wake-up call and we’ve got to refocus for a big week,” Bernier said after the loss.
Anaheim got a goal from Jakob Silverberg as he found the net from the top of the circle for his 22nd.
With the Jets shorthanded, Joel Armia did some great work as he was mugged by Ryan Kesler but kept battling to pot his 10th of the year and fourth shorty of the season.
Corey Perry gave the visitors a 2-1 lead with some slippery moves for his 17th at the end of the opening period.
Perry scored his second of the game and 18th of the year in the second as the Ducks took a bit of control of the game and also had a two goal advantage after forty.
“Yeah, it’s disappointing,” Perry said. “We didn’t play for the full 60 minutes. You take your foot off the gas in this League, you’re going to get burnt. You sit on your heels — you can’t sit back and receive a hockey game — and we did that in the final [period].”
With under four minutes to go in the second rookie defence man Nelson Nogier took exception to Anaheim tough guy Jared Boll laying a questionable hit on Mark Stuart and the rookie dropped the gloves with a veteran enforcer to get his bench going and get the crowd going.
The Jets took over the game in the third as they were using there speed and size to hem the Ducks in their zone and it finally paid off as Blake Wheeler beat Bernier for his 24th of the year.
After a couple of posts with the extra attacker on for Winnipeg Dustin Byfuglien pounded home his 13th to send this game to overtime.
“We decided to not just quit,” Nikolaj Ehlers said. “We wanted to keep going and get the two points no matter that. We worked our [butts] off those last 20 minutes. It feels good now.”
In overtime, Mark Scheifele did some nice work before taking a beauty feed from Byfuglien to burry his 30th of the season and give the Jets a 4-3 win on his bobblehead night .
WATCH: All Ducks vs. Jets highlights
Notes : Winnipeg announced the signing of Tucker Poolman a 5th round pick in the 2013 draft. The University Of North Dakota defenceman agreed to a one year entry level deal.
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