This series is painful. However, it would be a hell of a lot more painful if the Anaheim Ducks hadn’t created some late drama to take a 2-0 lead to Canada for game three. You can count on the Winnipeg Jets playing the next two games about a hundred times harder on their ice in front of their fans.
But as for game two…
-5: The effort after the game-tying goal – I can understand the sense of relief after notching the game tying goal, but that's no time to relax and defend as though you're holding a lead. The game is tied. This is no time to allow the Jets the kind of possession and space on the ice the Ducks did. I mean come on just look at this.
Pathetic.
-4: Everyone who had a wide-open chance in front of Pavelec and tried to pass – do I really need to flesh this one out? You don't pass up those kinds of opportunities. Shoot. The. Damn. Puck.
-3: Clayton Stoner – He’ll probably continue to stay in the lineup for a- his huge save on a sure-goal that would have pretty much changed the entire game early in the third period and b- his four hits. Beyond that, Clayton Stoner was back to the possession black-hole he usually is. His -10 shot-attempt for differential at 5 on 5 was the worst on the team. And on multiple occasions his misplay or mishandling of the puck led directly to a few additional Winnipeg shot attempts against. His partner, Sami Vatanen, was a second-worst -8. I’m not opposed to giving James Wisniewski a look in game three.
-2: Rickard Rakell – I’m fully confident he’ll bounce back, but this wasn’t Ricky’s best game. Being forced to take a few additional shifts due to the injury of Chris Wagner, Rakell didn’t really get anything going all night, actually finishing negative in his possession stats. It seemed like every time he got the puck and tried to work his magic, he’d get run over and have the puck taken away from him. His only real highlight of the game came when he fumbled a puck into his feet and yet still managed to get a shot off that rang the iron.
-1: Ryan Getzlaf/Corey Perry: One game removed from their domination of game one, the twins were pretty much invisible on the night. Getzlaf registered an assist, but otherwise looked like he was in slow motion for a lot of the night. At times it looked like he wasn’t even moving his feet to go after pucks. It’s been said many times that the team goes where Getzlaf goes, and with the kind of complacency he (and in turn the team) showed on many occasions tonight, it’s kind of a minor miracle the Ducks came out on top. Corey Perry had no points on six shots on goal and had a third-worst -5 shot-attempt for differential at 5 on 5.
0 (Even): Ryan Kesler: It feels kind of odd to put him here considering he didn’t really play all that bad, but he did have a few issues. For starters, his discipline was uncharacteristically bad, taking a couple pivotal minor penalties for contact to the head. Second, he appeared to have energy and drove a ton of possession all night, but just couldn’t seem to get anything to bounce his way. Likewise, the lone goal against was pretty much entirely his fault for shoving Lee Stempniak into the Anaheim goal, causing him to interfere with Freddy as he tried to leave the net. Lo and behold, goal against. Hence, I call his night a wash.
+1: Cam Fowler – Generated the shot that wound up being barely tipped into the net by Patrick Maroon, but also was a monster on his pairing with Simon Despres.
+2: Frederik Andersen – Freddo was excellent yet again and looked solid for most of the night. He improved on a lot of the bad rebounds he let out, however still looked a little bit on the shaky side on a few particularly dangerous shots. Overall, however, his only goal against wasn’t really his fault
+3: Andrew Cogliano – Five shots on goal, three hits, and several vitally important shifts while killing penalties. In fact, his shorthanded ice time was second amongst Anaheim forwards by
+4: Patrick Maroon – Scored the game tying goal which obviously works in his favor, but even beyond that Maroon was a flat-out force to be reckoned with tonight. In his 17:48 of ice time, Maroon earned four shots on goal and a team-high seven hits, most of which coming on the forecheck against the Jets defense. The Ducks were pretty effective at recovering possession on dump-ins in this game, and Maroon's aggression and urgency in getting body contact was a large reason why.
+5: Jakob Silfverberg – Not a cop-out pick by any stretch. Silfverberg was everywhere in this game. His 18:50 time on ice trailed only the twins and Ryan Kesler in ice time from forwards. His speed gave Winnipeg fits all night long, and his possession was positively on-point, finishing third amongst all skaters in unblocked shot-attempt differential on the night. Really it’s only just that his outstanding effort ended with the heroic game winning goal.