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Anaheim Ducks (3-0) vs Winnipeg Jets (0-3): Live Game Thread

By Richard Spalding

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The Ducks are going for the sweep; the Jets are fighting for their lives!

It’s game time, everyone!

I’m watching live from the comfy confines of my home, with my phone by my side and my laptop in front of me.  In between periods, I’ll update this post with stats, observations, Tweets and maybe even video, to help you make sense of the action.

I’ll give Winnipeg fans one thing: they are pumped up tonight!  I look forward to hearing the Anaheim Ducks silence them for good.

Enjoy the first period – I’ll be back!

End 1st: 1-1

That was another wildly entertaining first period, which is what we’ve come to expect from this series.  Lost of hits (16 for Anaheim, 19 for Winnipeg), plenty of near-misses, and more of that Anaheim Duck resilience we have all come to know and love.

Winnipeg got on to the scoreboard first, as usual, courtesy of a nifty shot by Bryan Little on the power play:

Whether or not Andrew Cogliano should have been called for tripping penalty that led to the PP goal is up for debate; what is not, is that Anaheim didn’t look especially sharp on their first penalty kill of the game, which is not like them. No matter – the Ducks really are not happy unless they are playing from behind.  Little’s goal simply pissed off Anaheim, and it only took the team a little over one minute to tie this baby up, courtesy of some fancy stick work by Emerson Etem:

Now that’s a thing of beauty! Can the Ducks avoid the dumpster fire that has been their second period effort in each game of this series so far?   I don’t know, but if Ryan Getzlaf keeps playing like he did in the first twenty minutes, Anaheim will be lucky to still be tied when the horn sounds after the second.

End 2nd: Ducks 2, Jets 1

I know, right?  The Ducks have a lead heading into the third!!!

The shots on goal favored the Ducks, 12-9, in the second period, but make no mistake: the Jets took it to the Ducks, especially in the first eight minutes of the period.  Yet, somehow, the Ducks broke through and scored the only goal of the period, thanks to some gorgeous passing and a little dangle from Corey Perry:

Glad I gave Andre Cogliano some love yesterday; he’s having another great game tonight. From the looks of my Twitter timeline, many Anaheim fans are uncertain of what to make about the Ducks actually having a lead after two-

but let’s keep these impressive numbers in mind as we gear up for a tense third period:

Twenty minutes is all that separates the Ducks from a sweep – Let’s Go Ducks!!!!

End 3rd: Ducks 5, Jets 2

Yeah baby – the Ducks got the sweep!

We’ve all been calling the Anaheim Ducks the Comeback Kids during this series, but the truth is that the Ducks were simply a dominant team (scoring-wise) once the third period rolled around.  Anaheim outscored Winnipeg 9-1 in the third periods of these four games – call it lucky, call it clutch: I call it winning.

Frederik Andersen was a bit of a question mark coming into this series, and he didn’t look especially sharp in the first game.  However, he gets an awful lot of the credit for holding Winnipeg to only one third-period goal in four games.   Remember that outlandish save he made against Little in game three?    Filthy.  And even though he gave up a goal in the third tonight, he really was a wall back there as the Jets made a few last-gasp pushes to try and stay alive.   Ryan Kelser is going to get all of the love and glory for tonight’s win, but make no mistake about it: Andersen makes the Ducks a tough, tough out in these Stanley Cup Playoffs.

That’s it for me – my man Chris will be handling the post game write-up duties early Thursday morning!

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