Silfverberg Scores Game-Winning Goal To Give Ducks 2-0 Series Lead Over Jets
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Jakob Silfverberg scored the tiebreaking goal with 21 seconds to play, and the Anaheim Ducks rallied from another third-period deficit for a 2-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night, taking a 2-0 lead in their first-round series.
Patrick Maroon scored the tying power-play goal midway through the third period and Frederik Andersen made 28 saves for the top-seeded Ducks, who came back from a final-period deficit for the second straight game and the 14th time this season.
Silfverberg sealed it moments before overtime, taking a puck off the boards and wheeling into the faceoff circle for a shot past Ondrej Pavelec, who stopped 37 shots in an outstanding performance.
Game 3 on Monday night will be the first NHL postseason game in Winnipeg since 1996.
Adam Pardy scored his first NHL goal in more than four years in the second period for the Jets, but they're still looking for the first playoff victory in the history of a franchise that moved north to Winnipeg in 2011 after 11 fruitless seasons as the Atlanta Thrashers.
Pardy's first career playoff goal ended his personal 172-game goal drought and put the Jets in front in a tense game, but the Ducks finally were rewarded for another productive offensive effort.
Cam Fowler's long shot deflected off Maroon's body to even it with 9:17 left. Silfverberg then finished it with his fifth career playoff goal.
After a bone-jarring series opener, neither team let up at all in the rematch. A series between two large, bad-tempered teams produced bruising hockey from the opening faceoff, with Winnipeg's hulking defensemen delivering an array of brutal hits and the Ducks answering every time.
The Jets shut out Corey Perry after his four-point performance in Game 1, but captain Ryan Getzlaf picked up an assist, giving him four points in two games.
Pardy was an unlikely offensive hero for the Jets after being a healthy scratch in Game 1. The defenseman with four career goals in 315 regular-season games got the start in Game 2 largely for his penalty-killing acumen.
Instead, he put the Jets ahead with an astonishing skill move by a sometimes lumbering defenseman who hadn't scored since Jan. 26, 2011, when he was with Calgary -- three uniforms ago in his peripatetic career.
Pardy nimbly circled the Anaheim net, avoided Hampus Lindholm and slid the puck just inside Andersen's post.
He also got help from Lee Stempniak, who had been inside Andersen's net an instant earlier after contact with Ryan Kesler. Stempniak appeared to impede Andersen's left skate while leaving the crease, but the goal stood after a lengthy review.
The Ducks pressed with their usual third-period ferocity, but Pavelec made several outstanding saves before captain Andrew Ladd took a high-sticking penalty with 10:15 left. When Fowler flung a shot into traffic on the ensuing power play, the puck pinballed through the crowd and deflected off the body of Maroon, the big power forward screening Pavelec.
Former Ducks center Mathieu Perreault returned to Winnipeg's lineup after a lower-body injury kept him out of Game 1. He went to the Jets' dressing room early in the third period after colliding with Pavelec's post while clearing the puck, but returned 10 minutes later.
NOTES: The Jets scratched D Ben Chiarot to make room in the lineup for Pardy. ... The Ducks lost rookie center Chris Wagner at the start of the second period due to an upper-body injury. Anaheim already is playing without third-line center Nate Thompson, who has missed both playoff games with an injury. ... The Ducks recalled D Josh Manson from their AHL affiliate in Norfolk during the game.