Needing a win to send this series back to Anaheim and avoid the sweep, the Winnipeg Jets could not pull through in front of their home fans as the Ducks scored three third period goals to seal the deal in a 5-2 win.
In the first, neither team could score until a penalty by Andrew Cogliano got sent to the sin bin for a tripping penalty. Bryan Little wasted little time taking advantage, scoring just 19 seconds into the power play. Mathieu Perreault, the former Duck, and Dustin Byfuglien got the assists. Just over a minute later Emerson Etem delivered one of the best goals of the playoffs so far with a nifty move to slip past the Jets defense and but the puck past Ondrej Pavalec to send the teams to the first intermission tied at one.
In the second, Cogliano atoned for his first period penalty with the lone goal of the second—12:55 in he scored his first of the series with Corey Perry and Hampus Lindholm assisting.
Ryan Kesler scored the first goal of the third to put the Ducks up 3-1 following three unanswered goals. It was his second of the series as Simon Despres and Tomas Fleischmann got the helpers. Mark Stuart got the Jets back in it with his first goal of the series just under four minutes later. Andrew Ladd and Little picked up the assists. But the comeback was not in the cards as Kesler scored again 15:11 into the period with assists from Jakob Silfverberg and Patrick Maroon. With just 27 seconds left Sami Vatanen all but ended it as he put the Ducks up 5-2 on an empty net goal.
Frederik Andersen was great in this series and in this game too, stopping 25 of 27 shots. Pavelec struggled once again, allowing four goals on 34 shots.
The Ducks are the first team to punch their ticket to the second round and will play the winner of the Flames vs. Canucks series. The Flames lead that series 3-1.