CHICAGO — Connor Bedard scored the tie-breaking goal at 9:55 of the third period, added an empty-net score and had two assists as the Chicago Blackhawks rallied from an early three-goal deficit to top the Ducks 5-3 on Sunday and break a five-game slide.
Tyler Bertuzzi, Ryan Greene and Colton Dach also scored as Chicago tied it at 3 by 12:34 of the second. Chicago converted two of four power-play chances and killed all three Anaheim advantages.
Bedard beat Ville Husso with a nifty move from the front of the crease to put Chicago ahead 4-3 after a turnover by Alex Killorn. Husso had entered the game 44 seconds earlier after starter Petr Mrazek exited with an undisclosed injury.
Bedard fired into an empty net with 1:55 remaining to seal it.
Spencer Knight rebounded from a shaky start to finish with 23 saves.
Cutter Gauthier had a goal and an assist as the Ducks jumped out a 3-0 lead midway through the first period.
Chris Kreider scored for the second straight game to give him 600 career points. Olen Zellweger also scored and Troy Terry set up two goals to extend his point streak to seven games.
Mrazek made stopped 13 of 16 of shots before exiting in his first start against the Blackhawks since they traded him to Detroit in March. Ducks No. 1 goalie Lukas Dostal missed his third game with an upper-body injury.
Gauthier and Zellweger beat Knight on two of Anaheim’s first three shots, giving the Ducks a 2-0 lead 47 seconds in. Kreider’s off-the-skate deflection upped it to 3-0 at 10:25.
Bertuzzi cut it to 3-1 with 2:03 left in the first, deflecting in a power-play score. Greene made it 3-2 at 6:43 of the second, finishing a two-on-one-break with Bedard.
Dach tied it 3-3 during a power-play at 12:34 of the second.
A lot of people return home for the Thanksgiving weekend. But for Corey Perry, Friday’s homecoming was more than a little bit awkward.
One of the most decorated players in Ducks’ history, Perry was greeted by a smattering of boos when he wore a Kings’ sweater into the Honda Center for the first time. Two hours later he left, carrying the sting of a Ducks’ victory that saw his old team rally from deficits three times before winning the first Freeway Faceoff of the season 5-4 in a shootout.
“Great comeback,” said winger Chris Kreider, whose second-period power-play goal got the Ducks started. “A good job of fighting back. It’s definitely a confident feeling.”
Leo Carlsson, who suffered through two dismal losing seasons during the long post-Perry rebuild in Anaheim, had two assists and the game-tying goal with 91 seconds left in regulation for the Ducks, who trailed 4-2 with less than 10 minutes to play.
The Kings’ Jacob Moverare blocks a pass from Duck Mason McTavish (23) to Beckett Sennecke (45) Friday at the Honda Center.
(Harry How/Getty Images)
“It’s a different team,” Carlsson said. “Hungry. Different mentality, too. So it’s been great so far season.”
Only Ryan Getzlaf has played more games for the Ducks then Perry, who left Anaheim in 2019 after 14 seasons, beginning an aimless tour of the NHL that saw him play for five teams before signing a free-agent contract with the Kings last summer.
The Ducks haven’t posted a winning record since he departed.
But after Friday’s victory they lead the division and are off to their best start in more than a decade. The Ducks are second in the Western Conference in wins (15), second in the NHL in goals (89), fourth in the conference in points (31) and were tied for fourth in points (31). For Carlsson, meanwhile, his 13th goal and 19th and 20th assists of the season Friday left 20, is tied for fourth in the league with 33 points.
The Ducks’ other scores Friday came from Olen Zellweger in the second period and Pavel Mintyukov in the third.
The Kings’ scores came Alex Laferriere, Kevin Fiala, Alex Turcotte and Joel Edmundson. With the point they earned by taking the game to overtime, the Kings headed back up the freeway Friday afternoon second in the Pacific Division, two points behind the Ducks.
The Kings’ Corey Perry looks on during the second period against the Ducks at the Honda Center on Thursday.
(Debora Robinson/NHLI via Getty Images)
And, surprisingly, they have Perry to thank for that.
“He’s a massive piece for us right now,” center Philip Danault said. “He’s not the fastest guy on the ice but he’s so smart. He goes into the crease, he gets goals. He gets in the opponent’s head.
“He’s probably one of the big reasons we’re winning.”
Since leaving Anaheim, Perry has come off the visitors’ bench at the Honda Center several times. So Friday’s game wasn’t necessarily one he had circled on his calendar.
“It was home,” he said before the game. “I have nothing but tremendous things to say.”
After missing the start of the season following knee surgery, Perry was activated last month on the same day captain Anze Kopitar was placed on injured reserve with a foot injury. And he immediately took up the slack, scoring the first of his seven goals — good for second on the team — in his second game. He also has six assists, is fourth on the team with 13 points and is averaging more than 14 minutes of ice time just the second time since he left Anaheim.
“You know, it’s fun,” said Perry, who is nearly halfway to his point total of a season ago. “This is what we do for a living.”
Perry, 40, is the third-oldest player in the NHL. But with a Stanley Cup, an MVP award, a goal-scoring title and two Olympic gold medals in his trophy case, he has a resume few players can match. Yet the Ducks bought out the final two seasons and $8.625 million of his contract in 2019, part of a rebuild that has seen the franchise go through three coaches and three general managers without posting a winning record.
“Now it’s seven years later. I don’t know anybody on the team,” Perry said of the Ducks, who have the second-youngest roster in the Western Conference. “It’s turned over so much that it’s a new group.”
Ducks center Mason McTavish scores the winning goal during a shootout of against the Kings on Friday at the Honda Center.
(William Liang/AP)
And new coach Joel Quenneville, who has a history of coaching success with young players, has that new group playing with confidence.
“We’re never going to give up,” said Carlsson, one of six Ducks younger than 23. “That’s the mentality.”
Laferriere got the scoring started late in the first period, parking himself in front of the goal and banging the puck past Ducks’ goalie Ville Husso, who made two big saves in the shootout.
Kreider tied it seconds into a power play midway through the second period, then Fiala and Zellweger exchanged goals just 59 seconds apart to send the teams into the second intermission tied 2-2.
Turcotte’s first goal of the season on a tip-in put the Kings back in front early in the third period before Edmundson doubled the lead on a slap shot from outside the right faceoff circle. He was helped by Perry’s presence in front of the goal, screening Husso on the shot.
The Kings wouldn’t score again though, allowing the Ducks to force overtime on goals from Mintyukov and Carlsson, who game-tying score came after his team pulled Husso to get an extra attacker.
“It was fun,” McTavish said of his first Freeway Faceoff matinee, which drew a sellout crowd of 17,174. “It was loud. There was a lot of energy in the building. So it was a ton of fun, and obviously more fun to come away with both points.”
Cutter Gauthier scored with 1:03 left in overtime to give the Ducks a 4-3 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night at Honda Center.
Vegas’ Mitch Marner whiffed trying to execute a backhand pass from behind his own goal, sending the puck right to Gauthier in the slot for a wrist shot and his 13th goal of the season.
Gauthier, Jackson LaCombe and Troy Terry each had a goal and an assist, Olen Zellweger also scored, and the Ducks ran their record in games going past regulation to 6-1. Lukas Dostal made 29 saves.
Braeden Bowman scored for the third straight game, Shea Theodore and Tomas Hertl each had a goal, and Jack Eichel had two assists for the Golden Knights. Akira Schmid made 29 saves.
Vegas extended its point streak to six games (3-0-3) but couldn’t turn around its overtime woes, dropping to 1-6 in three-on-three hockey.
The Golden Knights jumped to a 2-0 lead on goals from Theodore and Bowman 1:12 apart early in the first period. Bowman is the second Vegas rookie to post a three-game scoring streak and has four goals and one assist through his first six games.
The Ducks responded when LaCombe buried a one-timer through heavy traffic, followed by Zellweger tying it up at 2-all 34 seconds later.
Hertl put Vegas back in front on the power play with 2:01 left in the first period when Eichel’s long shot redirected in off his hand standing at the top of the crease.
Terry made it 3-3 with 6:10 left in the second period on a wrist shot from the right circle set up by Leo Carlsson’s entry into the zone off the rush.
Up next for the Ducks: vs. Vancouver at Honda Center on Wednesday night.
Max Sasson and Drew O’Connor scored in a late 2:10 span, Nikita Tolopilo made 37 saves in his first NHL appearance of the season and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Ducks 5-4 on Wednesday night.
Sasson gave Vancouver the lead with 4:02 remaining on a tip, and O’Connor followed with 1:52 to go on a wrist shot. Cutter Gauthier got one back for the Ducks with seven seconds left, his 14th of the season.
The 6-foot-6 Tolopilo was called up Monday from Abbotsford of the American Hockey League. He has won both of his career NHL starts.
Linus Karlsson, Evander Kane and Conor Garland also scored for Vancouver. The Canucks had lost three straight and six of seven.
Jackson LaCombe, Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish added goals for the Ducks, who have three victories in the first five games of a six-game homestand.
Four years after Lincoln Riley arrived at USC amid gaudy promises to return the football program to national prominence, well, two words.
Still waiting.
Needing a win at Oregon’s Autzen Stadium Saturday to have a chance at its first college football playoff berth, the Trojans once again fell short, fell deep and basically fell on their faces.
Still waiting.
In front of jubilant fans roaring like USC fans once roared, Oregon used an 85-yard punt return, a terrible Trojan penalty and awful Trojan play calls to roll to a 42-27 victory.
Still waiting.
With the win, the seventh-ranked Ducks almost certainly have earned a playoff spot.
With the loss, the 15th-ranked Trojans have definitely been eliminated for the fourth time in Riley’s four seasons while hanging an equally damning number on the embattled coach.
Under Riley’s leadership, the Trojans are 0-5 against top-10 teams.
Nearly as bad, in four years the Trojans have won just three road games against teams that finished the season with records better than .500. Before beating Nebraska earlier this year, Riley’s Trojans had not recorded a quality road win since his first season.
If USC beats UCLA next weekend as expected, the Trojans will finish with a 9-3 record and a nice vacation in some anonymous bowl game.
And that will not be enough. That cannot be enough.
One wonders how long the USC deep-pocketed people will endure such failed expectations, such fruitless autumns, such … mediocrity.
Heck, if UCLA can buy its way out of the Rose Bowl, one imagines that USC could buy its way out of a head football coach.
Just saying. Just saying, because at this point, there really isn’t anything more to say.
USC coach Lincoln Riley, center, walks on the sideline during a 42-27 loss to Oregon on Saturday.
(Lydia Ely / Associated Press)
USC began Saturday’s game with strength and style, forging a 14-all tie on the first play of the second quarter on a trick play that didn’t work against Notre Dame, receiver Makai Lemon throwing 24 yards to Tanook Hines to tie the game at 14-all.
If only the swaggering Trojans weren’t also so sloppy.
One possession later, a line-drive punt was returned 85 yards for a touchdown by Malik Benson to give Oregon a 21-14 lead.
Then at the end of the first half, everything fell apart for USC, just like everything always seems to fall apart in big games.
The breakdown began when USC seemed to regain momentum on a missed 44-yard field-goal attempt by the Ducks’ Atticus Sappington. But on the play, the Trojans’ Desman Stephens II leaped over the line for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Given new life, the Ducks quickly took advantage with a one-yard touchdown run by linebacker Bryce Boettcher to give the Ducks a 28-14 lead with 1:52 remaining in the half.
Then USC looked even worse on its ensuing drive when, on first and goal from the Oregon 8-yard line, Riley inexplicably called two running plays by Lemon that were both stuffed. The Trojans were eventually forced to attempt a field goal, but Ryon Sayeri bounced it off the right upright and the Trojans ended up with zilch.
At halftime, the 14-point Ducks lead seemed a lot larger and, it turns out, was insurmountable.
At the start of the second half, the Trojans held Oregon on fourth and one from around midfield, stole the Ducks’ next possession on an interception by Kennedy Urlacher, converted their own fourth down, and eventually scored on a four-yard pass from Jayden Maiava to Lemon to make it 28-21.
But then Oregon used several bruising runs to set up a 28-yard touchdown pass to Kenyon Sadiq to make it 35-21 late in the third quarter and that was that.
The Trojans made it a one-possession game again on a nine-yard touchdown pass to Lake McRee early in the fourth quarter, but Oregon drove down the field and scored on another bruising run by Noah Whittington to clinch it.
Drake Batherson scored the tiebreaking goal with 1:58 to play, and the Ottawa Senators held off a furious Anaheim rally after the Ducks pulled their goalie in the final minutes for a 3-2 victory Thursday night.
Batherson was camped in front of the Ducks net when he deflected a blue-line shot from Jake Sanderson past goalie Petr Mrazek to snap the Ducks’ six-game home win streak.
Nick Cousins and Shane Pinto also scored for Ottawa, and Linus Ullmark stopped 24 shots.
Beckett Sennecke and Mason McTavish scored in the second period for the Pacific Division-leading Ducks. Mrazek, the backup who made his fifth start of the season in place of Lukas Dostal, had 22 saves.
The Ducks were playing their third game in four nights and the second game of a back-to-back, and it showed during a sluggish first period in which they went eight minutes — including a two-minute power play —without a shot on goal and put only three shots on net.
Cousins gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead when he took a pass from Nick Jensen in the high slot, wound up and rifled a shot over the glove of Mrazek with 3:21 left in the first.
But the Ducks scored twice within a span of 1:26 in the second to turn that 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead.
The comeback started with a whiff, Cutter Gauthier misfiring on a snap shot from the slot. But the 20-year-old from Sweden was able to control the puck, poke it through the legs of defender Artem Zub and slip a pass to Sennecke, who snapped a shot into a nearly open net for a 1-1 tie with 6:52 left.
Moments later, Ducks forward Chris Kreider, playing in his 900th game, streaked down the right side on a two-on-one break and slid a pass to McTavish, who beat Ullmark stick-side for a 2-1 lead with 5:26 left.
A McTavish interference call with 2:52 left gave the Senators a man advantage, and Pinto took advantage, slipping a puck under Mrazek’s pads with 57 seconds left for his 10th goal of the season and a 2-2 tie.
Ian Moore scored the tiebreaking goal with 3:35 to play, and Lukas Dostal made 36 saves in the Ducks’ 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night.
Jansen Harkins. Radko Gudas and Ryan Strome also scored for the first-place Ducks, who have won nine of 12 after sweeping their season series with the Bruins.
The Bruins dominated long stretches of play and tied it with 12:21 left with Morgan Geekie’s second goal on a power play just seven seconds after Harkins took an awful cross-checking penalty.
But after another handful of outstanding saves by Dostal, Moore got the second goal his NHL career when Leo Carlsson found the young defenseman for a quick shot at the top of the slot while Chris Kreider screened Joonas Korpisalo.
Michael Eyssimont also scored for the Bruins, who opened a four-game road swing with their third loss in four games following a seven-game winning streak. Korpisalo stopped 29 shots, and Hampus Lindholm had two assists against his former team for Boston,
Mason McTavish had two assists in a bounce-back performance by the 21-year-old center after being demoted to the fourth line during the Ducks’ win over Utah on Monday.
Anaheim went ahead 2 1/2 minutes after the opening faceoff on Harkins’ second goal of the season. Gudas scored four minutes later from the blue line, hammering a slap shot that ramped off Fraser Minten’s skate for the Anaheim captain’s first goal of the season.
Geekie redirected a crossbar-high shot later in the first for his third power-play goal of the season.
Strome brilliantly redirected a pass from McTavish with two seconds left in a power play for his first goal of the new season after missing the first 16 games due to a preseason injury.
Eyssimont responded with his fifth goal late in the second.
Olen Zellweger scored 1:50 into overtime after Troy Terry tied it with 4.1 seconds left in regulation, and the Ducks dramatically ended their skid at three games with a 3-2 victory over the Utah Mammoth on Monday night at Honda Center.
Terry forced overtime when he tapped in a rebound after Chris Kreider deflected Cutter Gauthier’s shot off the post with an extra attacker on the ice for the Ducks.
An unchecked Zellweger then scored his second goal of the season with ease after a ragged overtime rush left him all alone at Karel Vejmelka’s post.
Lukas Dostal made 16 saves and Jackson LaCombe scored his first goal of the season for the Ducks, who moved back into first place in the Pacific Division with their first victory since winning seven in a row. Anaheim also opened a six-game homestand by staying unbeaten at Honda Center since Oct. 16.
Logan Cooley ended his eight-game goal drought since signing his $80-million contract extension by scoring with 10:41 left in regulation for the Mammoth, who have lost five of six.
Cooley’s one-timer glanced off the leg of Ducks defenseman Drew Helleson for his ninth goal of the season — and the 21-year-old center’s first goal since agreeing to his hefty eight-year deal last month.
Dylan Guenther also scored and Vejmelka made 22 saves for the Mammoth.
Anaheim scored first when Ryan Strome set up LaCombe in the first period for the defenseman’s first goal since agreeing to an eight-year, $72-million contract extension last month.
The Mammoth finally tied it late in the second period with Guenther’s eighth goal off a cross-ice pass from Nate Schmidt.
Ducks captain Radko Gudas returned from an 11-game injury absence, but forward Mikael Granlund was out for the 10th time in 11 games.
Up next for Ducks: vs. Boston Bruins at Honda Center on Wednesday.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota backup Jesper Wallstedt made 28 saves for his second straight shutout and the Wild beat the Ducks 2-0 on Saturday night.
Wallstedt extended his shutout streak to 141 minutes 9 seconds after beating Calgary 2-0 last Sunday night.
The 23-year-old Swede’s biggest save Saturday came when he robbed Frank Vatrano alone in front of the goal late in the second period. Wallstedt the backup to Filip Gustavsson, the fellow Swede who signed a five-year, $34-million extension Oct. 4.
Marcus Johansson scored in the second period and Matt Boldy added an empty-netter.
Minnesota improved to 5-1-1 in its last seven games, giving up only 12 goals in that stretch. The Wild are 19-1-0 against the Ducks dating to the 2020-21 season, including six consecutive wins since March 14, 2024.
Petr Mrazek made 29 saves for the Pacific Division-leading Ducks. They have scored only four goals in losing three in a row after winning nine of 10. Anaheim entered the day averaging 3.88 goals per game, second-best in the NHL.
Johansson opened the scoring 55 seconds into the second. Down the slot a stride behind Ryan Strome, Johansson got a pass from Boldy, went from forehand to backhand to deke Mrazek and lifted the puck past the down goalie. Johansson has seven goals this season after scoring just 11 goals each of the last two seasons.
The Wild have scored first in a franchise-record eight consecutive games.
Minnesota was 0 for 7 on the power play, the Ducks 0 for 2.
Ducks center Mikael Granlund, who returned Thursday after missing eight games because of a lower-body injury, missed the game because of the same issue. Wild right wing Vladimir Tarasenko missed his first game of the season because of a lower-body injury.
Up next
The Ducks open a six-game homestand against Utah on Monday night. The Wild host Vegas on Sunday night.
Alex DeBrincat had two goals and an assist and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Ducks 6-3 on Thursday night to end a three-game losing streak.
DeBrincat has 18 goals and 33 points in 20 games against the Ducks.
Moritz Seider and Dylan Larkin each had a goal and an assist, and Axel Sandin-Pellikka scored his second career goal. Michael Rasmussen also scored after being a healthy scratch for Detroit’s 5-1 loss to Chicago on Sunday.
Jonatan Berggren, Patrick Kane and Lucas Raymond added two assists apiece.
Seider and DeBrincat scored on power plays, reviving a Detroit unit that had gone one for 20 during its previous five games.
John Gibson and Cam Talbot combined for 25 saves for Detroit. Gibson departed after two periods because of an undisclosed injury.
Cutter Gauthier, Chris Kreider and Mikael Granlund scored for the Ducks, and Lukas Dostal made 27 saves. Leo Carlsson’ss 11-game points streak ended. The Ducks have lost two straight after a seven-game winning streak.
Detroit took a 3-2 lead in the second period after a scoreless first.
The Red Wings broke the deadlock at 5:57 of the period after the Ducks’ Mason McTavish was whistled for his third penalty of the game. Seider scored on a shot from the point but the Ducks tied it less than two minutes later on Gauthier’s team-high 12th goal.
Rasmussen and Kreider traded goals before Sandin-Pellikka scored from the point for his second career goal.
DeBrincat gave the Red Wings a 4-2 lead 50 seconds into the third period when he tipped in Seider’s shot during a power play. Larkin scored on a two-on-none breakaway to answer Granlund’s goal. DeBrincat added an empty-netter.
Gabriel Landeskog scored his first goal of the season, Nathan MacKinnon had three assists and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Ducks 4-1 on Tuesday night in a matchup of the Western Conference’s points leaders.
The loss ended the Ducks’ winning streak at seven games. Leo Carlsson scored his sixth goal in the past four games for Anaheim and recorded his 100th career point, making the 20-year-old the youngest player in Ducks history to reach that milestone. Troy Terry got his team-leading 15th assist of the season on Carlsson’s goal.
Lukas Dostal made 32 saves in a matchup of first-place teams.
The one goal matched a season-low for the Ducks, who entered the game averaging an NHL-best 4.13 goals per game.
Landeskog’s second-period goal, which gave Colorado a 2-1 lead, was his first in the regular season since March 5, 2022. The 32-year-old left wing had missed the entire 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, as well as the 2024-25 regular season, after undergoing a series of knee surgeries. After the goal, the home crowd serenaded him with chants of “Landy.”
Scott Wedgewood stopped 35 of the 36 Anaheim shots he faced for his NHL-leading 10th win of the season. It was the seventh time in 14 starts this season that Wedgewood has allowed one or fewer goals.
Artturi Lehkonen, Martin Necas and Parker Kelly also scored for Colorado, with Lehkonen’s goal coming just 28 seconds into the first period. MacKinnon’s three assists gave him 32 points for the season, the most in the NHL.
With the win, the Avalanche are 6-0-1 in their last seven games and improved to 16-1-2 in their last 19 meetings against the Ducks.
Rookie Beckett Sennecke had his first two-goal game, Leo Carlsson extended his scoring streak to 10 games with two power-play goals, and the Ducks beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 on Sunday night for their seventh straight victory.
Cutter Gauthier and Chris Kreider had two assists apiece and Lukas Dostal made 23 saves for the first-place Ducks, who have scored 33 goals during their longest winning streak in two years. Anaheim wasn’t even slowed by playing at Vegas on Saturday, instead beating both of the Western Conference’s 2024-25 division champions during its first back-to-back set of the season.
The 19-year-old Sennecke had already solidified his spot on the Ducks’ roster before he scored in the first and second period against Winnipeg. He has six goals and five assists in his first 15 NHL games, answering any questions about whether the former No. 3 overall pick was ready to make the leap from juniors to the NHL.
Carlsson got his first two man-advantage goals of the season during his second consecutive two-goal game, giving him 19 points in 10 games and keeping him near the top of the NHL scoring race.
The 20-year-old Swedish center extended the longest scoring streak of his career with a goal in the first period. Carlsson added his 10th goal of the season during another man-advantage in the third, giving him five goals and seven points in the past three games.
Kyle Connor scored and Eric Comrie stopped 17 shots for the Jets, who have lost three straight. After winning nine of its previous 11 games, Winnipeg scored just two goals while getting swept in the California half of its current six-game road trip.
Sennecke opened the scoring with a one-timer from the slot off a no-look pass from Gauthier, and Carlsson converted an assist from Troy Terry.
Connor got his ninth goal early in the second period, but Sennecke converted a rebound seven minutes later.
Up next for the Ducks: at Colorado on Tuesday night.
DALLAS — Leo Carlsson‘s short-handed goal midway through the third period proved to be the winner as the Ducks rallied to beat the Dallas Stars 7-5 on Thursday night.
Carlsson scored on a slap shot 10:38 into the third period to give the Ducks a 6-4 lead. Troy Terry had an assist on the goal.
Wyatt Johnston had two goals, Roope Hintz, Tyler Seguin and Mikko Rantanen also scored for Dallas, which lost for the third time in four games. Miro Heiskanen had four assists and Jake Oettinger made 18 saves.
Dallas had its seven-game points streak halted.
Up next for the Ducks: at the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.
Frank Vatrano and Chris Kreider also scored for the Ducks.
Jack Hughes scored New Jersey’s lone goal in the third period, and Devils goalie Jake Allen had 26 saves.
The Ducks have won three straight and five of their last six to move into a first-place tie with Las Vegas and Edmonton in the Pacific Division, an encouraging start for a team trying to snap a seven-season playoff drought. Their 15 points is the most through 11 games since 2014-2015.
The Ducks took advantage of their second straight game against a road-weary Eastern Conference club, outscoring the Detroit Red Wings and Devils by a combined 9-3.
Anaheim scored three goals within the game’s first 22 minutes and dominated the first two periods before New Jersey came to life in the third.
Moments after Allen stuffed Sennecke at the doorstep, Hughes took a pass from Dawson Mercer on a two-on-one break and one-timed a shot past a sprawling Dostal.
But Dostal and the Ducks held off a furious Devils rally in the final minutes, and Kreider scored on an empty netter with 1:54 left to seal the win.
Anaheim scored on its first shot of the game. Sennecke took a pass from Gauthier as he crossed the blue line, shielded New Jersey defenseman Dennis Cholowski with his body as he charged the net and slipped a lunging shot under Allen’s right armpit.
The Ducks made it 3-0 just 1:54 into the second period when Gauthier scored from an almost impossible angle, snapping a left-handed wrist shot from just inside the right goal line under Allen’s left pad for his team-leading seventh goal of the season.
Up next for the Ducks: vs. the Florida Panthers at Honda Center on Tuesday night.
