Jets' gaffe leads to easy OT winner for Ducks
The Winnipeg Jets are currently in last place in the Western Conference. Sunday afternoon against the Anaheim Ducks, we got a good reminder as to why they’re there.
After playing a really strong game against Anaheim through 60 minutes of regulation, they almost made it out of overtime with a chance to go to the shootout. It didn’t work out that way, though, thanks to one of the worst defensive plays we’ve seen since the birth of 3-on-3 overtime.
The Jets appeared to be set up in their own zone to try and funnel the Ducks over to the right side and block a clear path to the net. They made it impossible for Jakob Silfverberg to get through, so the Ducks forward dropped it to teammate Ryan Kesler right at the Jets’ blue line. For some reason, all three of the Jets players – Blake Wheeler, Dustin Byfuglien and Mark Scheifele broke towards Kesler. Meanwhile, Silfverberg was behind the wall of blue.
No one picked him up except for Kesler, who dished off a quick pass through the Jets and hit Silfverberg on the tape. He broke in on Michael Hutchinson all by himself. Silfverberg had so much time that after he failed to beat Hutchinson on the first shot, he managed to collect his own rebound and bury the winner with 58 seconds remaining in the extra frame.
Wide open. Like, WIDE open for the OT winner. #ANAvsWPGhttps://t.co/PLgbMsGlES
— NHL (@NHL) March 20, 2016
Three defenders, all in synch, breaking for the puck in three-on-three overtime is a recipe for disaster.
It was likely a miscommunication between Byfuglien and Scheifele as to who was going to go after Kesler. One of those two guys should have peeled off to cut down the angle on Silfverberg, but it didn’t happen. They hung Hutchinson out to dry and missed out on the extra standings point as a result.
With the win, the Ducks ended up getting a little extra breathing room on the Sharks for second place in the Pacific and stayed within striking distance of the first-place Kings.
The Jets forgot about something in OT — Jakob Silfverberg. (Prime Ticket)
