WINNIPEG - In front of another raucous whiteout crowd, the Winnipeg Jets were wiped out of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Jets played tight against the Anaheim Ducks once again, but a 5-2 loss in Game 4 Wednesday night at MTS Centre ended their season in a sweep. It's the only sweep in the first round.
Anaheim will face either the Calgary Flames or the Vancouver Canucks in the Pacific Division final. The Flames lead their first-round series against Vancouver three games to one.
The Jets/Atlanta Thrashers franchise remains without a playoff victory through 15 seasons of its existence. The only previous playoff appearance was in 1999, a sweep at the hands of the New York Rangers.
Amid more chants of “Katy Perry” from Jets fans, Ducks star Corey Perry had two more assists to reach six points in the series and lead the sweep. Ryan Kesler twice for Anaheim, and Emerson Etem, Andrew Cogliano and Sami Vatanen (empty net) had one each.
Bryan Little and Mark Stuart scored for Winnipeg, which got 30 saves from Ondrej Pavelec in the team's flattest game of the series.
The aggressive Ducks forecheck put pressure on the Jets to clear the puck out of their own zone. But at the 16:07 mark of the first, the puck movement led Anaheim's Andrew Cogliano to trip up Jacob Trouba for a Winnipeg power play.
Seventeen seconds into that, Dustin Byfuglien fed Mathieu Perreault along the left-wing wall and Perreault found Little in the slot. Little's quick shot beat Andersen high glove side to give the Jets a 1-0 lead for the third straight game.
The secondary assist was Byfuglien's first point of the series.
Just like the previous three games, the Ducks had an answer. Etem streaked down the wing and turned Trouba inside out before lifting a shot over a diving Ben Chiarot and past Pavelec to tie it at one at 17:52 of the first.
After an ineffective Jets power play in which they failed to register a shot on goal, the Ducks used more of their slick skill to take the lead. Hampus Lindholm's drop pass to Corey Perry got the puck in the hands of Anaheim's best playmaker.
Perry beat Byfuglien and fed Cogliano at driving to the side of the net for the go-ahead goal at 12:55 of the second. It was the first time this series the Ducks took a 2-1 lead in the second period.
For the first time all series, the Jets didn't take a lead into the second intermission. It didn't matter, as they couldn't get into any third-period rhythm and gave up a goal to Kesler at the 6:41 mark to fall behind 3-1.
MTS Centre was full of nervous energy and generally quiet for most of the third, until the TV timeout at the 10:24 mark. Three seconds later the place erupted when Stuart's point shot beat Andersen to cut it to 3-2.
Captain Andrew Ladd had the assist on Stuart's goal for his first point of the series. Fans on their feet chanted “Go Jets Go” the entire next timeout, and while the Jets had chances they couldn't connect.
Kesler delivered the dagger on a two-on-one rush with 4:49 left, scoring to quiet the building once more.
Notes - Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in attendance wearing a white Team Canada sweater. He tweeted: “Wow - what an atmosphere. Happy to be part of the #WPGWhiteOut tonight.” ... Ben Chiarot replaced Adam Pardy on the Jets' blue-line as the only lineup change for the Jets. Anaheim stuck with the same lineup. ... Jets fans serenaded balding Ryan Getzalf with chants of “Captain Rogaine.”
