Good teams are quickly realizing that they can’t take their foot off the gas when facing the Anaheim Ducks.
The Winnipeg Jets learned that lesson two weeks ago in Anaheim and are unlikely to overlook the Ducks when the teams meet on Thursday, as Winnipeg kicks off an eight-game homestand.
The latest top team to fall to Anaheim was the New Jersey Devils, who lost 3-2 to the Ducks on Tuesday night, dropping them out of first place in the Metropolitan Division.
“We thought it was going to come easy,” said Devils forward Timo Meier after the loss.
Earlier, the Ducks made a comeback from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the Edmonton Oilers 5-3.
In both games, Anaheim forward Ryan Strome scored the game-winning goal in the final minutes.
“We’re starting to play good hockey,” Strome said after the win against New Jersey. “We’ve got a tough couple of games coming up, but good to close the year with a win.”
After facing the Jets, the Ducks will play the Oilers again the next night in Edmonton.
Anaheim has become more dangerous due to increased contributions from their second line.
While their top line of Strome, Troy Terry, and Frank Vatrano has been successful, Mason McTavish, Cutter Gauthier, and Robby Fabbri are now starting to click as well.
The trio has combined for seven goals and eight assists in the last five games.
“We are communicating well on the ice, on the bench,” Fabbri said. “We are just complementing each other right now. Cutter is skating great, creating plays. McTavish is playing like a horse out there. It’s just going well right now. We’re just trying to ride the high.”
In their previous meeting on December 18, the Jets were leading Anaheim 2-1 with five minutes left, but the Ducks scored twice, including the go-ahead goal from Terry with just 26 seconds remaining.
After that loss, the Jets won four straight games to increase their lead in the Central Division. However, their streak was snapped in a 5-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday in Denver, with the score tied heading into the final period.
“Any time you can go into the third period tied 2-2 in this rink, you hope that you can come out on the right side of it,” said Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel. “We didn’t.”
The Jets were playing their third game in four days after returning from the Christmas break, and they had hosted the Nashville Predators the night before.
“We’re all pros,” said Jets defenseman Neal Pionk. “We’ve been through it before, and we get some teams at home that go through that travel, so we can’t use that as an excuse.”
In Winnipeg’s long homestand, the first three games are against teams with losing records. The Jets have been one of the best home teams in the NHL, with a 14-3-1 record.
“At the end of the day, it would have been nice to dig in a little more and find a way to come up with a win against Colorado,” Jets forward Morgan Barron said. “The effort is there. It’s just about finding ways to make those plays at the end of the game. We’re a resilient group. We know that. We’ll reset, go home, and get on a streak here.”
