The dream is over.
Down three games to none to the Anaheim Ducks, the Winnipeg Jets and their whiteout faced the horror of elimination... and the end of the season.
The Jets opened scoring in the first period. Dustin Byfuglien led the rush on the powerplay, passed to Matthieu Perreault, who made a nice feed to Bryan Little, who fired it upstairs over the glove of Fredrik Andersen. The roof blew off the hangar as the Jets took a 1-0 lead.
But it lasted less than a minute, Emerson Etem undressed Jacob Trouba with a deke and flipped a backhand over a helpless Ondrej Pavelec to make it 1-1 after one.
Ducks came in waves. Simon Depres dropped to Corey Perry, who dangled and set the table for Andrew Cogliano for the tap-in. Anaheim took a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes.
Then in the third, Tomas Fleischmann outwaited Tyler Myers and put it on the tape for Ryan Kesler, who made it 3-1.
Just when it seemed like all hope was lost, Mark Stuart blew a slapper thru Anderson from the blue line and with half a period to play, the whiteout roared back to life.
The Jets forced to gamble and it backfired. Once again, the former Manitoba Moose crushed the party. Kesler buried his second to make it 4-2 Anaheim.
They added an empty netter. The Anaheim Ducks are the first team through to the second round.
Heartbreak for the Jets who ran out of gas after pushing so hard to just to make it to the tournament.
