So, this is where we find out exactly what the Anaheim Ducks are made of.
One win away from advancing to the conference semifinals for the second straight year, with a 3-0 advantage over the Winnipeg Jets in the first round of the Stanley Cup Finals. The numbers might already anoint the Ducks as the victors, but it's not quite as foregone of a conclusion as you might think.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, teams that hold a 3-0 lead have historically won the series 97.8 percent of the time. The all-time record is 175-4, but it's that fourth time that still stands out to the Ducks.
A year ago next Thursday will be the one-year anniversary of the Los Angeles Kings' four-game comeback win over the San Jose Sharks in the first round of last year's playoffs. Anaheim was then the victim of the momentum and confidence generated from the historic four-game comeback, being eliminated by the eventual champs in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals.
It's still recent, and it's still memorable.
"I would think it happened so close to home that everybody on our team knew what happened last year," said Ducks' coach Bruce Boudreau. "And I didn't bring anything up, but at the same time we know that you have to win four, and winning three isn't the right thing. So it's not like we're going to take it easy, we're going to keep going as hard as we can because we know how tough this team has been to beat."
The goal now is simply to shatter the Jets' hopes and dreams of becoming only the fifth North American professional sports franchise to pull off the elusive "reverse sweep."
"You've got a team on their heels and we have our foot right on the throat where we want it, so we've just got to finish them off," said Ducks' goaltender Frederik Andersen. "We don't want to give them any hope."
Throughout the first three games, Anaheim has led for only a little over 11 minutes, 6.1 percent of the entire series. Contrast that with the 67:19 (36.3 percent of ice time) that the Jets have led, and the numbers might indicate that the Ducks' comeback luck could run out. But it really hasn't all season. The Ducks lost only a single one-goal game in regulation all season, and that record and the experience gained from it is more valuable than luck.
"Everyone's going to throw every stat they can find at you," said Ducks' captain Ryan Getzlaf. "That's it's impossible to come back or it's possible or whatever. It's about winning that fourth game. We got to make sure that our best foot's forward tomorrow in trying to close this thing out. Because we don't want to give them life."
Luck is a good bounce in a regular-season game against a middling team. The will to win is what the Ducks are channeling for Wednesday's fourth game. The Ducks can eliminate the Jets by taking an early lead and protecting it.
Or doing it the Anaheim way: By defying the odds with another inexplicable third-period come-from-behind effort.
"Believe me, if I could get them to flip the switch earlier, it would," Boudreau said. "It's not just our team, it's all sports. How often do you see a team in football, there's 1:10 left and they've got the ball on the 30 and you know that they're going to go all the way down and score? I mean, it's not that they do it all the time, but there's certain quarterbacks that will always lead your team down and score, and you know it's going to happen."
Injury Updates
Ducks center Nate Thompson is still considering himself "day-to-day" and participated in the team's optional skate, Tuesday morning at the MTS Centre. Tomas Fleischmann is expected to play center instead of wing once again in Game 4.
Ducks goaltender John Gibson participated in full for the first time, Tuesday afternoon. Should the Jets come back and prolong the series, Gibson may be available to back up Andersen for the later games.
"Good news," Boudreau said. "I would venture to guess that in less than a week, John Gibson will be available to play if we need him."
