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Sweep for Stanley: Ducks' playoff quest just beginning as Jets roar out

WINNIPEG — The puck skidded into the empty net Wednesday night, sealing the Anaheim Ducks’ 5-2 win, sealing the Winnipeg Jets’ fate, and the MTS Centre silenced for a moment, only for a moment. The fans cheered and chanted.

“GO, JETS, GO!”

They kept cheering through the final 27 seconds, kept cheering as the final horn sounded and kept cheering as the Ducks celebrated and the Jets commiserated, growing louder and louder and louder. As the players shook hands, they chanted again.

“GO, JETS, GO!”

Finally, as the Jets raised their sticks to salute them, they roared one last time.

Yes, the fans gave the Jets a standing ovation for getting swept. They hadn’t seen the Stanley Cup playoffs since the original Jets left in 1996. This was only the fourth season of the new Jets. Maybe one day they will be upset by losing in the playoffs, not just happy to be here, but not now, not yet.

Winnipeg fans gave the Jets a standing ovation as the Ducks swept them out of the playoffs. (Getty)
Winnipeg fans gave the Jets a standing ovation as the Ducks swept them out of the playoffs. (Getty)

For the Ducks it was different.

“It’s one series,” said center Ryan Kesler. “We didn’t come here to win one series. We came here for …”

Deep breath.

“The whole thing,” Kesler continued. “It’s one step. We’ve got another step, and we’ve got three more to go. So we’ve got to focus on step two now.”

There is no romance in Anaheim, just business. The Ducks haven’t advanced past the second round since winning the Cup in 2007. Coach Bruce Boudreau never made it past the second round in his first six NHL playoff appearances – the first four with the Washington Capitals, the last two with the Ducks.

That’s why general manager Bob Murray overhauled the team in the off-season, parting with several players, making some acquisitions – Kesler, most notably. That’s why he kept making moves at the trade deadline.

Murray didn’t care about the regular season. The Ducks had finished first in the Pacific Division in 2012-13, only to lose to the Detroit Red Wings in seven games in the first round. They had finished first in the Pacific and the Western Conference last season, only to lose to the Los Angeles Kings in seven games in the second round – and watch the Kings, third in the Pacific, sixth in the West, go on to win the Cup.

“I don’t need any first places,” Murray said as training camp opened.

Murray cared only about making the playoffs – and being fresh and healthy when the Ducks got there, thanks to more depth and balanced ice time.

“Just get there,” Murray said, “and anything can happen.”

Well, the Ducks got their first places, anyway. They won the Pacific. They won the West. At least partly because of their history, maybe partly because of the Winnipeg angle, they were a popular pick to be upset by the Jets in the first round. But there would be no party at Portage and Main in the end. The Ducks kept coming back and coming back as they had all season, rallying from one-goal deficits in the third periods of Games 1, 2 and 3, rallying from another in the first period of Game 4.

“In key moments, they came up with big goals,” said Jets captain Andrew Ladd. “That was the biggest difference, especially in those first three games. There’s a fine line between winning and losing in the playoffs. They’re a team that went through those ups and downs last year and probably learned from that.”

Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf leads a strong cast that should be able to reach at least the West final. (Getty)
Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf leads a strong cast that should be able to reach at least the West final. (Getty)

The Ducks should win at least two rounds this year. L.A. isn’t in the way this time. Neither are the San Jose Sharks. By sweeping the Jets – a big, hard, physical team – the Ducks gave themselves time to heal their bumps and bruises and avoided additional punishment. They will face either the Calgary Flames or the Vancouver Canucks in the second round. They went 3-1-1 against each of them in the regular season.

Kesler was acquired to address two weaknesses – faceoffs and center depth – taking pressure off captain Ryan Getzlaf and giving Boudreau more matchup options. He was also acquired to give the Ducks another elite pain-in-the-butt in the top six along with Corey Perry. After a regular season of 20 goals and 47 points, he was what he was expected to be in the playoffs in the first round.

In Game 3, the fans chanted: “KESLER SUCKS!” Except that he doesn’t, and he loves playing the villain. He had a goal and two assists that night, including the tying goal with 2:41 left in regulation. In Game 4, he scored twice in the third period. First, he made it 3-1. Then, after the Jets had made it 3-2, after the fans had chanted loudly though an entire media timeout, he made it 4-2. Dagger.

“Obviously we wanted to silence the crowd tonight,” Kesler said, “and that’s what we did.”

Kesler wasn’t alone. Getzlaf had a strong series. So did Perry. So did Andrew Cogliano and Jakob Silfverberg. Emerson Etem scored a highlight-reel goal Wednesday night, flying down the left wing, undressing a defenseman and flicking an unbelievable backhand shot past a diving defender and into the upper right corner of the net. Goaltender Frederik Andersen seized the Anaheim net, made timely saves and quieted any controversy.

“We were just so relentless,” Etem said. “We were non-stop throughout the entire series. We’ve got all-stars, we’ve got all-world players in our dressing room, and everyone just feeds off of it. We’ve got a great mix of older veterans and young guys, and the younger guys just feed off of Kes and obviously Corey and Ryan. They set the tone each and every game. You know they’re going to show up, and it’s our job to follow them.”

How far can they go?

“Obviously the goal is to win the Stanley Cup, like everybody else,” Getzlaf said. “We know it’s not going to be easy, but we’ve got to continue along this path.”

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