The Winnipeg Jets are on the brink of playoff elimination.  

Ryan Kesler scored the equalizer with 2:14 left in the third period and Rickard Rakell got the winner 5:12 into overtime to lift Anaheim past Winnipeg 5-4.

The Ducks lead the NHL's best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal three games to none.

Rakell deflected Francois Beauchemin's point shot past Ondrej Pavelec.

Lee Stempniak, Tyler Myers, Blake Wheeler and Bryan Little did the goal scoring for the Jets who have been outscored 6-0 in the third period in the series.

"I thought our third period was really good up until they scored," said Myers. "I thought we came out a lot harder, and pushed harder than we had maybe in the thirds in the first two games. I don't think anyone is going to come into game four with any shaken confidence. Tonight we played a hard game, and we are going to come out the same in the fourth game."

Cam Fowler, Corey Perry and Jakob Silfverberg also scored for Anaheim.

Three times the Ducks rallied from one-goal deficits in game three.

Winnipeg's season will be on the line Wednesday (8:30 p.m.) at MTS Centre.

"The simple thing is to focus on the one game, that's what's left," said Jets head coach Paul Maurice. "Then we will go through the things that were different in tonight's game than in the two previous games, and try to get as much of that in that next game. We made some plays, we tried some things that didn't work, but we were trying to execute some things, and not play overly safe. At times that led to a little bit of looseness, but we needed to play more confidently tonight, and we were able to do that in a difficult situation, when you lose two to find that confidence in your game. That was the most confident we have been with the puck in these last three."

 

 


photos by Ray Peters