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ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Every sign indicated that it might not be the Anaheim Ducks' night. Trailing 1-0 to the Winnipeg Jets after two periods in Game 2 of their first-round series, they were completely neutralized by a physical defense when they weren't being befuddled by goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. Even scarier for their fans, their star duo of Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry was being smothered. But there was no panic during that second intermission and this supremely confident group found a way to win 2-1 and take a commanding 2-0 lead in the series. The teams head to Winnipeg for Game 3 on Monday night. Perhaps most encouraging for the West's top seed, the Ducks did it without major contributions from their two stars. "We want to have everyone going. We can't rely on [Perry and Getzlaf] every night," goaltender Frederik Andersen said. "We're all heroes in here. We don't look to find one every night. It's a group thing. It's nice to see some different goal scorers." That "group thing" didn't exactly work out in Game 1. Trailing 2-1 after two periods on Thursday, Getzlaf and Perry took over the third, combining for three goals and finishing the 4-2 win with a combined seven points. Perry's four-point night even tied a franchise record for points in a playoff game. During a stifling second period in Game 2 that saw Perry and Getzlaf held without a shot, it became apparent that the Ducks would need to find contributions elsewhere.  That's exactly what they did. Just as they knew they would.
"We've been like this all year. For us to be like that, it's unbelievable," said Patrick Maroon, whose deflection of a Cam Fowler point shot tied the game on the power play at 10:43 of the third period. "The way we come in so calm here in the second [intermission] going into the third," Maroon said. "We just know we have it in us." Maroon's offensive contribution came by storming the net, where he parked his 231-pound frame in front of Pavelec, who had no chance on the equalizer. Let Perry and Getzlaf score the highlight-reel goals. Maroon was going to get his the hard way. "That's what we need, dirty goals in the playoffs," Maroon said. "We're not going to score the nice ones. We have got to go in front of the net and make the goalie work for them." Much like Maroon, Jakob Silfverberg has his role on this team, and it doesn't usually involve making the highlight reel. With the Ducks forced to kill off four penalties, including an important elbowing minor to Ryan Kesler late in the second, Silfverberg spent 3:53 on the penalty kill Saturday night to lead all skaters on both teams. Relegated to selflessly killing all those penalties, the Swedish wing didn’t fire a single shot on net until there was 19.8 seconds left in regulation. One shot, one goal. Ducks win. "He was rewarded," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said of Silfverberg. "He played a great game, killed a lot of penalties and he was rewarded with a goal. Good for him." With another third-period comeback, the Ducks demonstrated plenty of resilience. But this one was different from their comeback on Thursday. For the first time in the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Ducks showed that there was plenty of scoring to go around their locker room. "Experience is something that goes a long way. Since I've been here, we've had two Game 7 losses in our home building. It's something that you can lean back on when the time comes," Fowler said. "As a group, we understood how important this game was for us." That they did it facing a potential turning point in their season is what might mean the most. Facing a Jets team looking forward to Game 3 at one of the NHL's loudest buildings in a city hosting its first playoff game in 19 years, the Ducks didn't look to Getzlaf and Perry to bail them out. They kept calm and found a way to pull out a true team win. Now, per the Elias Sports Bureau research, they're the first team in NHL history to hold a 2-0 series lead after trailing to start the third period in each of its first two games. "We were loose enough to not press. If it gets down to 10 minutes or five minutes [to go], you still have to have that belief that you're going to get one," Fowler said. "That's something that you build over time. That's not something that just comes with one game. We've had a lot of experience with that this season." When the series turns to Winnipeg for Game 3 on Monday, Getzlaf and Perry will no doubt be expected to do what stars do. But in the event that two of the world's best players aren't able to rise to the occasion under the weight of a heavy-handed Winnipeg defense, the Ducks know they can still find a way to win. Of course, they've known that all season. And now the Winnipeg Jets know it too. "It's hard [for Perry and Getzlaf] to average three points a game, four points a game. We knew beforehand that we have to get production from other people or we're not going to be successful," Boudreau said. "One line in the end is easy to check. But if you get three or four lines going, then it becomes more difficult."
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