ducks

The Ducks held their annual fan appreciation day Sunday, handing out thousands of gifts, from a new car to team jerseys and gift cards. But the one prize the Ducks’ long-suffering fans really wanted, a playoff berth, remained just out of reach.

Needing a win to clinch a postseason berth for the first time since 2018, the Ducks lost a sloppy 4-3 overtime decision to the Vancouver Canucks, the NHL’s worst team, leaving them a point shy of the playoffs with two games to play. The loss was the seventh in eight games for the Ducks, who have tumbled from first to third in the Pacific Division standings and may now have to settle for a wild-card berth.

So they’ll hit the road Monday for their final two games of the regular season needing one point from games in Minnesota and Nashville. The Ducks could also back into the playoffs if Nashville losses either of its final two games.

“We haven’t clinched anything yet,” captain Radko Gudas said. “With two games to play, there’s still a lot of work to do, 120 minutes to give it our all and make that push.”

“We just can’t be satisfied with what we’re at right now,” coach Joel Quenneville agreed. “We didn’t make it easy on ourselves, that’s for sure.”

The Ducks have already assured themselves of their first winning record since 2017-18 but the playoffs have been the Holy Grail the team has been chasing since then. And it appeared within reach until Marco Rossi scored on a power play with less than 11 seconds left in the extra period, silencing a sellout crowd that had repeatedly peppered the Ducks with rhythmic chants of “We want playoffs!”

“I loved it,” Quenneville said of the chant. “I wanted to complete that wish tonight.”

And it looked as if that would happen given the way the Ducks started, with Cutter Gauthier opening the scoring with the first of two goals 3:41 into a feisty and physical first period that was interrupted by seven penalties and two fights.

But Vancouver got the next three scores, taking a 3-1 lead when Brock Boeser intercepted a sloppy Leo Carlsson pass intended for John Carlson in Vancouver’s defensive end, then outskated Carlson the other way before lifting the puck over goaltender Lukas Dostal less than five minutes into the final period.

The shorthanded goal seemed to wake the slumbering Ducks, with Gauthier scoring on a power play 37 seconds later to halve the lead and become the first Duck with 40 goals in a season since Corey Perry in 2013-14.

“It’s a huge milestone and something I’m very proud of,” Gauthier said. “But that’s not why I’m playing hockey. I’m playing to win games and eventually win a Stanley Cup.”

Carlsson then evened things at 3-3 on a spectacular goal less than two minutes later, backhanding the puck over Canucks goalie Nikita Tolopilo while skating away from the crease for his 29^th goal of the season.

“It was kind of a dagger when they score a shorthanded goal on us,” Gauthier said. “It’s supposed to be the opposite way. But I thought we responded really well, obviously tying it back up.”

The Ducks couldn’t keep it there, however, with Chris Kreider taking a slashing penalty with 2:07 left in overtime, giving Vancouver an extra skater. Dostal had kept the Ducks in the game, making seven saves in the extra period, including five huge stops on the power play, but he couldn’t stop Rossi on the final shot, one which sent the Ducks’ fans home disappointed and eager to end to the second-longest playoff drought in the NHL.

“They’ve been hungry to get back in the playoffs over these last seven years,” said Gauthier, who was in junior high school in Michigan the last time the Ducks played in the postseason. “They’re excited for it, we’re excited for it. We fell short tonight but we had a great opportunity to go on this road trip and get some get points.”

Actually just one point — the one they left on the ice Sunday — will be enough.

General manager Pat Verbeek has agreed to a multiyear contract extension with the Ducks.

Mike Stapleton has also received a promotion to senior vice president and associate general manager, the Ducks announced Friday.

Verbeek took over the Ducks’ front office in February 2022, three months after Bob Murray resigned amid allegations of workplace misconduct. Verbeek has presided over the bulk of Anaheim’s lengthy rebuilding project while assembling much of the current team, which is finally on the brink of ending the franchise’s seven-year playoff drought.

Led by first-year coach Joel Quenneville, the Ducks (42-32-5) are currently in third place in the Pacific Division, but just one point out of first place with three games left in the regular season. The Ducks could clinch a playoff spot this weekend.

“Pat has done exactly as we hoped, having turned the Ducks into what we believe are perennial contenders for the next decade,” Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli said in a statement. “We are beyond excited to see the team continue developing into what is already an exciting, winning team ready to take the next step.”

After several years of high draft picks beginning before Verbeek’s tenure, the Ducks have assembled one of the NHL’s most enviable collections of young talent led by center Leo Carlsson, goal-scoring forward Cutter Gauthier, promising rookie Beckett Sennecke and U.S. Olympic defenseman Jackson LaCombe.

Verbeek’s trade with Philadelphia to acquire Gauthier in January 2024 has been widely praised, but his decision to ship center Trevor Zegras to the Flyers last summer has received criticism while Zegras thrives in Philadelphia. Verbeek also parted ways with Ducks mainstays Cam Fowler and John Gibson in recent years, clearing payroll room and playing time for the Ducks’ young talent.

Most recently, Verbeek swung a deadline deal for longtime Washington defenseman John Carlson, who has scored 12 points in 13 games during Anaheim’s playoff charge.

Last summer, Verbeek also persuaded Samueli to take the risk of hiring Quenneville, Verbeek’s former NHL teammate and a three-time Stanley Cup-winning coach who had been out of the league for nearly four years after being banned for his inaction in the Chicago Blackhawks’ sexual assault scandal in 2010. Quenneville has immediately turned the young team into a playoff contender, and he became the second coach in NHL history to win 1,000 games this season.

Verbeek became a front-office executive at Tampa Bay and Detroit after the conclusion of his 20-year playing career, which included two Stanley Cup championships.

Stapleton was the Ducks’ director of player personnel and assistant general manager under Verbeek following several years as an Anaheim scout. He played 14 NHL seasons.

Beacham writes for the Associated Press.

John Carlson scored three goals for the first hat trick of his 17-year NHL career, and the Ducks ended their six-game losing streak with an emphatic 6-1 victory over the San José Sharks on Thursday night at Honda Center.

Leo Carlsson, Alex Killorn and Frank Vatrano also scored and Beckett Sennecke had two assists for the Ducks, who jumped to a 4-0 lead and dominated their Pacific Division rivals for their first win since March 26.

Carlson scored two power-play goals in the third period, connecting with 5:57 left to secure the first hat trick of his 1,156-game career. The veteran defenseman has been exactly what the Ducks needed when they acquired him at the trade deadline, scoring 12 points in 13 games while steadying the back end for one of the NHL’s worst defensive teams.

Lukas Dostal made 16 saves, but the Ducks fell 7:20 short of their first shutout in 160 games since last season’s opener on Oct. 12, 2024 — also against San José.

Shakir Mukhamadullin scored and Yaroslav Askarov stopped 27 shots for the Sharks, who had won five of seven to surge into playoff contention.

Carlsson put the Ducks ahead less than three minutes after the opening faceoff, driving the net and finishing for his 28th goal.

Carlson scored only his second goal in a Ducks uniform later in the first, blasting it home around Sennecke’s screen. San Jose didn’t get its first shot on goal until 13 minutes into the period.

Killorn tapped in a pass from Sennecke off a two-on-one rush for his 14th goal in the second.

Neither team was called for a penalty until San José’s Collin Graf was binned for hooking with 10:20 to play, and Carlson fired home his second goal on the ensuing power play.

Vatrano scored only his second goal since Dec. 7 in the waning minutes.

Up next for the Ducks: vs. Vancouver at Honda Center on Sunday.

Justus Annunen stopped 43 shots — one shy of his career high — for his third career shutout, and the Nashville Predators sent the Ducks to their sixth consecutive loss, 5-0 on Tuesday night.

Erick Haula, Filip Forsberg and Brady Skjei scored second-period goals, and Zachary L’Heureux and Fedor Svechkov scored in the third for the Predators. Joakim Kemmell and Ryan O’Reilly each had two assists.

The win pushed Nashville (84 points) one point ahead of the Kings for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Predators have four regular-season games left.

The Ducks, who have been outscored 29-14 during their losing streak, remain stuck at 87 points. They also have four games remaining.

The Ducks fell one point behind Edmonton and Vegas in the Pacific Division. The Ducks are only three points ahead of the currently eighth-seeded Predators and four points ahead of the ninth-seeded Kings.

Nashville broke a scoreless tie when Haula took a pass in the high slot from Kemell and snapped a shot over Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal’s blocker for his 13th goal.

Forsberg made it 2-0 on the power play. The Swedish winger snapped a shot from the high slot that beat Dostal glove-side for his team-leading 73rd point.

The Ducks had a chance to get back into the game when a pair of Nashville tripping penalties gave the Ducks a man advantage for four minutes starting with 4:16 left and a two-man advantage for a 22-second span.

But the Ducks managed just one shot on goal during the long power play, and Skjei slipped past the Ducks’ leaky defense on a breakaway and snapped a shot over Dostal’s right shoulder for a shorthanded goal and a 3-0 lead with 58 seconds left in the second.

Jeffrey Viel then took elbowing and roughing penalties with 15 seconds left that gave Nashville a man advantage for four minutes, and boos rained down from the Honda Center at the end of the second period for the second straight game.

Up next for the Ducks: vs. San José at Honda Center on Thursday.

Ryan Strome scored his 500th career point with a goal against his former team, Morgan Frost had two goals and the Calgary Flames sent the Ducks to their fifth consecutive loss with a 5-3 victory Saturday night.

Joel Farabee and Matvei Gridin had a goal and an assist apiece for the Flames, who extended the Ducks’ late-season spiral by earning their first win over Anaheim in four meetings this season. Devin Cooley made 36 saves.

Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish scored in the third period, but the Ducks’ comeback from a 4-1 deficit fell short when Frost put his second goal into an empty net with 1:11 to play.

Beckett Sennecke also scored and Ville Husso stopped 15 shots during yet another rough defensive performance by the Ducks.

The Ducks are attempting to end the franchise’s seven-year playoff drought under first-year coach Joel Quenneville, but this skid has endangered the Ducks’ entire playoff candidacy even after they spent the past four weeks leading the mediocre Pacific Division.

The Ducks remained even with first-place Edmonton with 87 points because of the Oilers’ loss to Vegas, which is now just one point behind the division leaders with five games to play.

Strome sneaked behind Anaheim’s leaky defense and scored on a breakaway early in the second period, getting his fifth goal in 15 games since the Ducks traded him to Calgary last month. The veteran forward spent the previous 3½ seasons with the Ducks, but struggled to produce during inconsistent playing time from Quenneville before his departure at the deadline.

Sennecke opened the scoring when he drove the net and muscled home his 23rd goal, most among NHL rookies this season, but Calgary replied with four consecutive goals that prompted the Honda Center crowd to boo its team into the second intermission.

Carlsson got his 27th goal in the third, and McTavish fired home his second goal since January during a power play midway through the period. But Calgary repelled another Ducks power play and wrapped it up with Frost’s empty-netter.

Injuries left Ducks playing without top scorer Cutter Gauthier and defensemen Radko Gudas and Pavel Mintyukov.

Defenseman Tyson Hinds made his NHL debut for the Ducks, whose defensive struggles are the primary source of their late-season woes.

Up next for the Ducks: vs. Nashville at Honda Center on Tuesday night.

Former Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer will pitch for a U.S. team for the first time since 2021 when he serves as the opening day starter for the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League later this month.

Since his last MLB start, on June 28, 2021, Bauer has been accused of sexual assault by four women. He denies all the allegations and has never been charged with a crime.

After Bauer served a 194-game suspension for violating the league’s sexual assault and domestic violence policy, the Dodgers severed ties with the 2020 National League Cy Young Award winner on Jan. 6, 2023, less than two years after signing him to a three-year, $102-million contract.

Bauer has said he wants to pitch for an MLB team again but until now has only received opportunities to play professionally in Mexico and Japan.

“We are excited to welcome Trevor to Long Island,” Michael Pfaff, Ducks president and chief business officer, said in a Thursday news release announcing Bauer’s signing. “His talent and knowledge will be important additions to our ballclub, and we are happy to offer him this opportunity to showcase his talents to MLB clubs while giving fans unprecedented access to Ducks baseball.”

According to the release, “Bauer will be ‘Mic’d Up’ for all games and practices for the purposes of content creation to be featured on his and the team’s social media and streaming outlets.”

The Ducks did not immediately respond to further questions from The Times regarding Bauer’s signing.

Bauer is expected to start when the team opens the season at home April 21 against the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars.

“I’m looking forward to competing in front of U.S. fans again this season,” Bauer said in a statement released by his new team. “The Ducks have had some incredible players come through their organization, and I’m excited to be part of that tradition.”

SAN JOSÉ — Macklin Celebrini tied the score with less than two minutes to play then assisted on Alexander Wennberg’s winning goal with 31 seconds left to complete a four-point game as the San José Sharks beat the Ducks 4-3 on Wednesday night.

With two goals and two assists, Celebrini has 40 goals and 105 points this season, moving him past Erik Karlsson (101 points in 2022-23) for the second highest single-season point total in franchise history behind Joe Thornton’s 114-point effort in 2006-07.

The 19-year-old Celebrini also has 17 games this season with three or more points, second among teenagers in NHL history only to Wayne Gretzky, who had 19 in 1979-80.

Will Smith had a goal and two assists for the Sharks and Yaroslav Askirov made 28 saves.

Troy Terry scored 4:04 into the third period to give the Ducks a 3-2 lead.

Celebrini tied it with 1:39 to play.

Ryan Poehling and Alex Killorn also scored for the Ducks, who have lost three straight games but remain atop the Pacific Division. Drew Helleson had a pair of assists and Lukas Dostal made 16 saves and also got his first assist of the season on Poehling’s goal.

The Ducks played without their leading goal scorer, Cutter Gauthier, who suffered an upper-body injury in Monday night’s 5-4 loss to Toronto.

Nathan Gaucher made his NHL debut for the Ducks. He was selected 22nd overall by Anaheim in the 2022 draft.

San José has a 2-1 lead in the four-game regular-season series between the teams.

Up next for the Ducks: vs. St. Louis at Honda Center on Friday night.

John Tavares redirected a shot from Morgan Rielly into the net with five seconds left in overtime to lift the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over the Ducks in a fight-marred game Monday night.

The Leafs overcame a 3-1 deficit with three goals in the third period, including Rielly’s snap shot from the high slot that beat Ducks goalie Ville Husso stick-side to give Toronto a 4-3 lead with three minutes left in regulation.

But Leo Carlsson, who hobbled to the locker room after taking a hard hit and falling to the ice in the first minute of the third, gathered a loose puck near the left circle and flicked a shot past Toronto goalie Anthony Stolarz to make it 4-4 with 1:39 left.

Tavares added a first-period goal, and Stolarz stopped 28 of 32 shots for Toronto, which took the ice about 1½ hours after general manager Brad Treliving was fired near the end of his third season, with the Maple Leafs on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier scored in the first 10 minutes, and John Carlson scored his first goal for the Ducks. Gauthier, who leads the Pacific Division-leading Ducks with 38 goals and 65 points, suffered an upper-body injury on a cross-check late in the first and did not return. Husso had 22 saves.

Ducks captain Radko Gudas, slowed by a lower-body injury, insisted on playing in the rematch of a March 12 game in which his knee-on-knee hit on Auston Matthews led to a season-ending injury for the Toronto captain and a five-game suspension for Gudas.

It took three seconds for the Leafs to exact some revenge, Toronto forward Max Domi and Gudas dropping the gloves and exchanging punches as soon as the puck dropped.

That set the tone for a hard-hitting game that featured a combined 85 penalty minutes, numerous scuffles and game misconducts incurred by Toronto’s Michael Pezzetta and Domi in the second.

Up next for Ducks: at San José on Wednesday.

CALGARY, Canada — Mikael Granlund capped his hat trick scoring on the power play with one second remaining in overtime on Thursday night to give the Ducks a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames.

Granlund has seven goals during a four-game goal streak that has him up to 19 on the season as the Ducks extended their winning streak to four games.

The Pacific Division-leading Ducks have a five-point lead on the Edmonton Oilers and a six-point lead on the Vegas Golden Knights.

Rookie Matvei Gridin and Blake Coleman scored for Calgary, which extended its point streak to five games (4-0-1). Gridin stretched his point streak to four games (one goal, three assists).

Ville Husso, who made 23 saves, improved to 9-7-1.

Devin Cooley, who had 30 stops, fell to 9-10-4.

The game got off to an inauspicious start for the Flames. First, Pavel Mintyukov’s turnover in the opening minute of the game resulted in a 3-on-0 breakaway for Calgary but Gridin, Morgan Frost and Matt Coronato over-passed it and never got a shot on goal.

Three minutes later, it appeared that Yegor Sharangovich had given Calgary the lead, but the Ducks challenged for offside and the goal was overturned. It was the fifth goal the Flames have had waved off by video review during its homestand.

Calgary eventually took the lead on Coleman’s goal 1:06 into the second period when he redirected Joel Farabee’s pass inside the post. But Granlund tied it on an unassisted goal two minutes later.

The Ducks lost two defensemen to injury. Radko Gudas (lower body) left the game late in the second period and Mintyukov got hurt when he took a shot from Olli Maatta high in his chest in the third.

Troy Terry scored on a breakaway 1:29 into overtime for his second goal of the game after Mikael Granlund tied it late in regulation and the Ducks rallied to defeat the Buffalo Sabres 6-5 on Sunday night.

Anaheim ended Buffalo’s seven-game road winning streak when Tage Thompson couldn’t keep in the puck in the Ducks’ zone and Terry held on a 2-on-0 break to score on a backhander.

Granlund tied the score at 5 with 1:44 remaining in the third period on a power play with Ville Husso pulled for an extra attacker.

Chris Kreider and Jackson LaCombe had power-play goals in the first period, Beckett Sennecke also scored, Husso made 24 saves and the Ducks have won consecutive games as part of a four-game points streak.

Alex Lyon had his 10-game road winning streak — tied for the third-longest by a goaltender in NHL history — snapped after giving up six goals on 33 shots. That included giving up goals to Sennecke and Terry on two of the Ducks’ four shots in the second period.

Alex Tuch, Josh Doan, Jack Quinn, Owen Power and Zach Benson scored for the Sabres, who extended their franchise-record road points streak to 14 games. It was their second loss in the last 14 games overall.

Lyon hadn’t lost a road start since Dec. 8, when Buffalo was last in the Eastern Conference with a 2-9-2 record outside of upstate New York. The Sabres had since won 20 of 24 road games as part of an astonishing turnaround that has them set to end the longest playoff drought in the NHL and on track to claim a first division title since 2009-10.

A victory for Lyon would have tied San Jose’s Evgeni Nabokov in 2009-10 and Minnesota’s Devan Dubnyk in 2014-15 for the longest undefeated road run in league history.

Alex Killorn broke a tie off a scramble at 9:09 of the second period, Lukas Dostal stopped 29 shots and the Ducks beat the Utah Mammoth 4-1 on Friday night to pad their Pacific Division lead.

After the puck was cleared off the goal line behind goalie Vitek Vanecek, the Ducks’ Beckett Sennecke ended up with it on the left side and slipped a pass to Killorn for a shot before Vanecek was set. Killorn also had two assists.

Ryan Poehling, Cutter Gauthier and Mikael Granlund also scored to help the Ducks — playing without suspended defenseman Radko Gudas — rebound from a 3-2 overtime loss to Philadelphia on Wednesday night at home. They moved three points ahead of Edmonton in the division.

Gudas served the fourth game of a five-game suspension for kneeing Auston Matthews in a loss at Toronto on March 12. Matthews tore the medial collateral ligament in his left knee and will miss the rest of the season.

Poehling tied it with 6:23 left in the first, beating Vanecek with a nifty move on a shorthanded break. Poehling took a pass from Killorn, sped down the left side, cut right and shot against the grain to the left.

The Ducks (38-27-4) put it away with two empty-net goals, with Gauthier scoring his 36th goal on the first.

Dylan Guenther scored his 34th goal of the season for Utah — at 1:48 of the first of the Mammoth’s second shot on goal.

Utah remained six points ahead of the Kings for the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

The Mammoth (36-28-6) opened a four-game homestand. They had won two straight on the road, beating Dallas 6-3 on Monday night to snap a four-game losing streak and topping Vegas 4-0 Thursday night.

Up next for the Ducks: vs. Buffalo at Honda Center on Sunday.

Noah Cates scored on a deflection off goalie Lukas Dostal’s skate at 2:17 of overtime and — after a review for offsides on the play — the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Ducks 3-2 on Wednesday night.

The Pacific Division-leading Ducks forced overtime on Leo Carlsson’s goal with 1:54 left in regulation.

Dan Vladar made 34 saves to help Philadelphia rebound from a 2-1 shootout loss to Columbus at home Saturday night. The Flyers are six points behind Boston and Detroit for the two Eastern Conference wild-card spots.

Luke Glendening had his first goal of the season and Owen Tippett also scored for Philadelphia. Trevor Zegras was held off the scoresheet in his first game in Anaheim since his offseason trade. He scored twice in Philadelphia’s 5-2 home victory over the Ducks on Jan. 6.

Cutter Gauthier also scored for the Ducks, and Dostal stopped 24 shots. The Ducks beat Montreal 4-3 on Sunday night to finish 2-2 on a Canadian swing.

Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas served the third game of a five-game suspension for kneeing Auston Matthews in a loss at Toronto on March 12. Matthews tore the medial collateral ligament in his left knee and will miss the rest of the season.

Defenseman John Carlson played his second straight game for the Ducks after a trade-deadline deal with Washington. His debut was delayed by a lower-body injury.

Glendening opened the scoring at 2:50 of the first period, his first goal in 57 games this season with New Jersey and Philadelphia. Tippett made it 2-0 at 7:53 of second with his 23rd of the season. Gauthier cut it to 2-1 on a power play with 38 seconds left in second with his 35th goal of the season.

Philadelphia’s Nick Seeler fought Jansen Harkins in the third period.

OTTAWA — Linus Ullmark made 23 saves for his second shutout of the season and the Ottawa Senators blanked the Ducks 2-0 on Saturday.

Michael Amadio and Thomas Chabot scored for Ottawa. Shane Pinto had two assists. It was the 14th shutout of Ullmark’s career. The Senators have won four of five.

Ville Husso stopped 27 shots for the Ducks.

Nick Cousins won a battle along the boards, which sprung Pinto down the ice. Pinto fed Amadio on a 2-on-1 and he made no mistake, beating Husso short-side 3:54 into the second period.

At the 9:21 mark of the second period, the Senators capitalized on a turnover. Pinto intercepted a pass and found Chabot in the high slot for his seventh goal of the season and second career short-handed score.

Anaheim challenged for goaltender interference but was unsuccessful.

Warren Foegele had a couple of chances from close range in the opening period, but just couldn’t settle a bouncing puck.

Husso then stopped Amadio on a short-handed 2-on-1 breakaway.

Amadio later drew a penalty, but Husso made a big glove save on Tim Stutzle on the Senators’ power play.

Up next: Ducks: at Montreal on Sunday; Senators: host San Jose Sharks on Sunday.

Times columnist Mirjam Swanson is right. Bam Adebayo is an impostor. If ever there was justification for an asterisk next to a record, his illegitimate assault on a scoring record is it. It was contrived and shameful.

Ron Yukelson
San Luis Obispo

Agree with Times columnist Mirjam Swanson, Bam Adebayo’s a fraud! It was a total setup once he got close to Kobe’s record-setting 81 points. Both teams … the Heat and the Wizards … conspired with their flopping and intentional fouling to get him to 83. Is this what the NBA has sunk to? Shame, shame.

Marty Zweben
Palos Verdes Estates

Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game, while impressive, appeared to be a sloppy affair comparable to an All-Star game full of dunks and threes. His field-goal percentage was under 50%. He shot 43 free throws. which was somewhat of an NBA disgrace. Kobe’s 81 took place in a game that was close most of the way, meant getting into a playoff spot, and demonstrated Kobe’s artistry in a majestic display of the entire offensive arsenal he worked so hard to perfect. He was a maestro and savant. I feel like he has been soiled.

Dell Franklin
Cayucos

There has already been much complaining about Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game, complaining that his teammates fed him the ball hoping that he would surpass Kobe’s single-game total of 81. Those of us of a certain age know that the exact same thing happened when Wilt scored 100 in 1962. Perhaps the thing to do is not to look to diminish this effort, but to appreciate it for the accomplishment it is. Congratulations to Bam.

Ronald O. Richards
Los Angeles

TORONTO — William Nylander broke a tie on a power play 36 seconds into the third period and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Ducks 6-4 on Thursday night to end an eight-game losing streak.

The victory was tempered by the loss of captain Auston Matthews on a knee-on-knee hit from Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas with four minutes left in the second period. Matthews stayed down favoring his left leg before being helped to the locker room. Gudas was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct.

Matthews scored earlier to end a 12-game goal drought.

Matias Maccell had a goal and two assists, and John Tavares and Benoit-Olivier Groulx also scored. Matthew Knies had three assists to go along with an empty-net goal, and Nylander added two assists. Joseph Woll made 36 saves.

Cutter Gauthier, Ian Moore, Pavel Mintyukov and Alex Killorn scored for the Pacific Division-leading Ducks. Lukas Dostal stopped 23 shots.

The Maple Leafs are 1-6-2 since the Olympic break to sink any realistic hope of a 10th straight playoff appearance. They won at home for the first time since Jan. 10.

WINNIPEG, Canada — Ryan Poehling had a goal and an assist to lead the Ducks to a 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night.

Alex Killorn and Jackson LaCombe also registered a goal and an assist. Tim Washe also scored for Anaheim. Lukas Dostal made 12 saves for the Ducks, who extended their lead in the Pacific Division to three points over Vegas.

Morgan Barron scored for Winnipeg. Connor Hellebuyck had 30 saves for the Jets, who saw their three-game win streak and six-game point streak halted.

After a scoreless first period in which Anaheim outshot Winnipeg 8-2, the Jets opened the scoring at 5:04 of the second when Barron notched his 10th of the season, assisted by Elias Salomonsson and Cole Perfetti.

The Ducks quickly flipped the script, scoring three times in less than two minutes. Washe tied it at 6:24 and Poehling gave Anaheim the lead just 14 seconds later. Killorn added the insurance marker at 8:08 to give the visitors a two-goal lead.

The Ducks outscored the Jets 12-6 in three games this year. Dostal has won 13 of his past 15 games.