Solid game is still not enough for the Ducks
ANAHEIM >> The Ducks outshot their opponents handily, stayed clear of the penalty box mostly, maintained their structure effectively and got another solid game in goal, but none of that swung their fortunes against one of the NHL's hottest teams.
The Winnipeg Jets prevailed 3-1 at Honda Center on Friday, winning for the fifth straight time and securing their 27th and 28th points out of a possible 32 since Dec. 1. The Ducks have won four games out of their past 23, sinking them like a stone in the standings.
Mason McTavish found the net for the Ducks. John Gibson stopped 24 shots.
Nikolaj Ehlers, Nate Schmidt and Cole Perfetti each scored a goal for Winnipeg. Vladislav Namestnikov had two assists. Backup goalie Laurent Brossoit earned his sixth victory of 2023-24, coming up with 37 saves.
The Ducks had avoided playing shorthanded for more than two periods, taking just one matching minor penalty early on Friday. A borderline holding call against Radko Gudas sent the Jets to the power play with 8:47 to play, and 1:50 later they had a 3-1 lead off Perfetti's one-timer from just above the left faceoff dot.
There were more gasps than gaffes as they pushed down the stretch, but the Ducks would draw no closer.
Early in the third period,
THE SCORE JETS 3, DUCKS 1 Up next: Red Wings at Ducks, Sunday, 5 p.m., BSW
the Ducks rode the seesaw and fell off, failing to capitalize on a high-danger opportunity and then giving up a goal at the other end.
Just 94 seconds into the final frame, the Ducks generated a three-on-two rush that saw McTavish set up Alex Killorn's one-timer, which was snared by Brossoit's glove. Just 22 seconds later, Winnipeg had the lead after the Ducks' next possession consisted of McTavish falling to the ice and turning the puck over to ignite a counterattack that was finished by the trailing Schmidt for his first goal of the campaign.
Through two periods, the Ducks had strung together some opportunities and mostly kept the game uneventful in their own end. But the Jets' extended zone time earned them an equalizer, 7:57 into the stanza.
A shot recovery initiated a five-man cycle. Ehlers made a seam pass to Mark Scheifele that banked off the leftwing wall, drawing a crowd and creating space for Ehlers on the right side. There, he got the puck back and fired through a Gabe Vilardi screen from high in the circle, beating Gibson to the far side.
Early in the first period, Frank Vatrano, who became a first-time All-Star selection on Thursday, appeared to give the Ducks their first man advantage by drawing a tripping call on Mark Scheifele, but a puzzling call for embellishment put the numbers at four a side.
The Ducks would later earn the period's only power play and though they did not score, they generated some energy that carried into their five-on-five play. Vatrano's drop pass for Alex Killorn jolted him through the neutral zone and across the blue line, and his drop pass for McTavish set up a backhand from the slot to open the scoring. Vatrano is the Ducks' most productive player by volume and McTavish is their most prolific on a per-game basis.
Forward Max Jones sustained an upper-body injury in the first period after he checked Winnipeg's Morgan Barron. Jones did not play the rest of the game. Ryan Strome (upper-body) and Radko Gudas (illness) missed their second straight games, though Ross Johnston (illness) returned after a one-game absence.