Ducks Beat Jets 5-4 In Shootout On Selanne's Night
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Sami Vatanen scored in the sixth round of the shootout, and the Anaheim Ducks rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period for a 5-4 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday night.
Rickard Rakell scored the tying goal with 2:03 left for the Ducks, capping the first multipoint game of his NHL career with two goals and two assists.
Rakell and Ryan Kesler scored shootout goals to keep the game alive after Blake Wheeler and Evander Kane scored early for Winnipeg. Mark Scheifele missed in the sixth round before Vatanen beat Ondrej Pavelec to clinch the NHL-leading Ducks' third win in four games.
Vatanen won it for his fellow Finn after a pregame ceremony honoring Teemu Selanne, whose No. 8 jersey was retired by the Ducks.
Selanne started his NHL career in Winnipeg before spending parts of 15 seasons in Anaheim, retiring last summer at 43 years old as the franchise scoring leader.
Kyle Palmieri also scored in the third period for Anaheim. Tim Jackman scored and Frederik Andersen stopped 28 shots in the Ducks' fourth straight win over Winnipeg.
Scheifele had a goal and an assist, captain Andrew Ladd also scored, and Pavelec stopped 39 shots in the Jets' fifth loss in seven games. Kane and Zach Bogosian scored in the first period for the Jets, but they failed to finish their three-game road trip with back-to-back weekend victories in Southern California.
With Selanne watching from a luxury box, the Ducks rallied impressively after killing four full minutes of power-play time for the Jets -- most of it with a two-man advantage -- stretching over the second intermission.
After Palmieri scored on a backhand with 13:35 to play, Rakell cashed in a pass from Patrick Maroon after Dustin Byfuglien turned over the puck behind Winnipeg's net. Rakell, who also got a power-play goal in the first period, had scored one goal in his first 53 NHL games.
One night after Winnipeg scored on its first three shots in a 5-4 shootout win in Los Angeles, the Jets scored three times on their first eight shots in Anaheim.
Scheifele's rebound goal late in the first period put the Jets up 3-1 and provoked light booing from the Honda Center crowd. Jackman kept it close with his third goal of the season, but Ladd scored on a 2-on-1 with Wheeler to put the Jets up 4-2 entering the third.
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