Recap: Gibson Helps Ducks Earn Crucial Point in 3-2 OT Loss to Jets

John Gibson simply gave the Ducks a chance. In the end, the Ducks came out of Winnipeg with a crucial point in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Jets on Friday night.
In what can be considered one of his greatest regular-season performances, Gibson put together a Vezina-type 39-save effort to ensure a point. Under siege for nearly the entire game, Gibson made 16 saves in the first period, 17 in the second period and eight in the final frame to push the Ducks (38-24-13, 89 points) into the first wild card spot, one point ahead of the Colorado Avalanche and tied in points with the LA Kings (third place in the Pacific Division).

The overtime loss snapped Anaheim's four-game winning streak, but they have still managed to go 11-4-2 over their last 17 games and 19-9-4 since their bye week. Already without the services of defenseman Josh Manson, who missed his second consecutive game with an upper-body injury, it was announced during warmups that Ryan Getzlaf would be out of the lineup with flu-like symptoms.
Their presence was missed, as the Jets attacked the Ducks in waves throughout the game. Nevertheless, the Ducks briefly held a 1-0 lead before they tied it at two goals apiece in the third period to force sudden death.
Derek Grant opened the scoring and Nick Ritchie scored the equalizer in the third period for the Ducks, who will head to Edmonton for the third stop on this four-game road trip. Despite the overtime loss, Gibson (29-17-7) is still 10-2-1 in his last 13 games and 12-3-2 since the All-Star break.
"We were holding on the whole night," said Ritchie. "It's nice to have that point. Sometimes you get outplayed and you can sneak out two points. We'll take the one point. It's going to be big for us moving forward."
Nikolaj Ehlers, Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor scored for the Jets, who improved to 45-19-10 overall. The victory also pushed them to 100 points on the season, six behind the Western Conference-leading Nashville Predators. Connor Hellebuyck made 16 saves to improve his record to 38-11-9.
Grant's breakthrough season continued early in the first period when he recorded his 11th goal of the season (and third on the power play) when he got a tip on Hampus Lindholm's point shot to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead at the 5:50 mark. The veteran center came into this season without a goal in 92 games spread over five seasons with the Ottawa Senators, Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres and Nashville Predators. Lindholm's assist gave him 100 assists in his NHL career.

Less than two minutes later, the Jets tied it when Ehlers capped off an impressive 3-on-2 rush with his 28th goal of the season - a career high. It also marked his third goal in three games against the Ducks this season.
The Jets took a 2-1 lead 45 seconds into the second period when Scheifele buried a shot from the left dot for his 22nd goal of the season. It came off a nice feed from Blake Wheeler, who backed off the Ducks defense before sending a subtle pass across his body to Scheifele.
Anaheim's best chance in the second period came from Andrew Cogliano, who deflected a pass from Jakob Silfverberg that caromed off the post with nine minutes left in the period.
The Ducks tied the game with 9:42 remaining in the third period when Ritchie jumped on a loose puck in the neutral zone, lugged it into the offensive zone and sent a snap shot that snuck under Hellebuyck's blocker before bouncing off the back of his leg. Ritchie scored on Anaheim's 13th shot of the game, compared to the 37 shots Winnipeg had at the time.

The game eventually went to overtime where Connor won it on a breakaway with 1:45 left on the clock to give the Jets the 3-2 victory.
Anaheim's four-game road trip continues Sunday against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.