NHL Saturday night Match Analysis: Winnipeg Jets vs. Anaheim Ducks 5-3
It was the first and last time Anaheim and Winnipeg would be meeting up for a match in the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season, which certainly had the 15,000 plus Canadian fans at the sold out MTS Centre on the edge of their seats throughout
the contest which the Jets luckily managed to grab from the Ducks, 5-3, on Saturday night, December 17, 2011.
"I thought that they gave all we could handle certainly from a physicality standpoint," Jets coach Claude Noel said of facing Anaheim's corps of big forwards. "We got a win. I wouldn't say it was the prettiest win, but we got a win. It was a hard game to
play for our players. It was a hard, physical game, and it wore us down. There was a lot of pressure everywhere."
Teemu Selanne, one of hockey’s finest players in history, was playing his first game back in Winnipeg for the first time since 1996, which was certainly a special and emotional moment for the player despite the loss his struggling team faced.
"It was unbelievable," Selanne said. "I didn't really know what to expect. It was something I could never imagine, it was so special. This is a dream come true to come back and play here one more time."
Selanne was back in the moment when he was used to play for the former Winnipeg Jets before they were declared defunct before the turn of the century and having spent nearly four seasons with them to kick off his career, it was more of anything he could
of dreamed for since this is most probably his last professional hockey season in the NHL.
Kyle Wellwood opened the scoring with his eighth of the season five minutes into the first period with Blake Wheeler following closely to extend the lead on their inaugural power play opportunity as Corey Perry was booked for high-sticking and awarded a
minor penalty.
Selanne found Niklas Hagman open with less than six minutes to play in the first as he flung the puck high into the air in front of the player who fired it through Winnipeg goalie, Chris Mason, for Anaheim’s first goal of the night.
Perry returned to level the contest for the Ducks with his 13th goal at the 18:26 mark, keeping the home crowd excited at every moment.
Selanne missed on a huge chance when he was shot the puck in front of Mason, who was distracted on the right side but still managed to block the puck by kicking it with his left leg and denying the Finnish Flash a goal all night long.
Alex Burmistrov and Andrew Ladd gave Winnipeg the boost they needed in the second period with the former adding the tie-breaker 31 seconds in and captain Ladd extending the lead with his double digit entry with 1:40 to go.
George Parros and Mark Stuart were booked with a major penalty for fighting when they exchanged fists after Burmistrov’s seventh of the season, rising tensions in the MTS Centre with fans on their feet.
Zach Bogosian finalised the match in favour of Winnipeg 2:49 into the third and final period of regulation while Perry got his second of the night on the Jets midway penalty, which was not enough to get Anaheim the win and instead losing their second straight
in two nights.
Winnipeg has three more at home with the next being against the New York Islanders on Tuesday while Anaheim will pay a visit to the Dallas Stars on Monday.
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