Ducks lose, but Gibson gets them a point
Goaltender faces a barrage from Jets, who finally win in OT on Connor’s goal.
WINNIPEG, Canada — Kyle Connor simply wanted to get off a shot. He ended up with much more.
The Jets rookie scored 3:16 into overtime and Winnipeg edged the Ducks 3-2 on Friday night to set a season franchise record for points.
“I put a lot of pucks on net and shoot it, just try to get it off quick,” Connor said. “That was pretty much going through my mind on that rush.”
Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored for the Jets (45-19-10), who won their fourth straight to reach the 100-point plateau for the first time. Winnipeg had 99 points in the 2014-15 season before being swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Ducks.
The game was the second straight in which Connor scored the overtime winner. The rookie had both goals in Winnipeg’s 2-1 win over the Kings on Tuesday night.
Scheifele had the second of his two assists in the game on Connor’s shot that beat John Gibson to win it. Blake Wheeler also finished with two assists as the Jets remained unbeaten on their six-game homestand (40-0).
With the point, the Ducks moved into the lead wildcard spot in the Western Conference, one ahead of Colorado, with seven games to go.
“We put a lot at [Gibson] and it seemed like he was making one save after another,” Connor said. “I thought we played a really good game.”
Nick Ritchie tied it at 2-2 for Anaheim at 10:17 of the third period. He went in alone on Connor Hellebuyck, who squeezed his pads on the shot, but the puck dropped under him and went over the goal line. Derek Grant also scored for Anaheim, which had its fourgame win streak end. The Ducks were playing without captain Ryan Getzlaf after he was scratched with the flu.
“We were very, very fortunate to get out of this game with one point. Simple as that,” coach Randy Carlyle said. “Our goaltender stole us a point here tonight.”
Winnipeg had outshot the visitors 41-16 heading into overtime.
Hellebuyck made 16 saves for Winnipeg to pick up his 38th win of the season. Gibson kept his team in the game with some big saves, stopping 39 shots.
“It was a pretty one-sided game,” Ritchie said. “When we look back at how we played, we’ll definitely take that point and move forward and know that we were pretty bad tonight. We pretty much hung [Gibson] out. He — I don’t know how, but somehow — got us that point.”
Anaheim used its first power play of the game to go up 1-0 as Grant deflected in a shot by Hampus Lindholm with 14 seconds left in a highsticking penalty to Joel Armia. Winnipeg responded 55 seconds later when Ehlers scored his 28th goal of the season with a toe drag and high wrister that beat Gibson at 6:46.
The Jets swarmed Gibson for most of the period, outshooting the Ducks 17-4.
Winnipeg went ahead 45 seconds into the second after Wheeler did some nifty stick-handling around Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler, then passed it back for Scheifele, who fired a shot in over Gibson’s blocker.
Winnipeg had secondyear star Patrik Laine back in the lineup. He left Tuesday’s game early in the second period after blocking a shot with his left foot. After the Friday morning skate, he was deemed good to go.