ANAHEIM, Calif. – The relentless post-Olympic break schedule crunch means it’s a grind for everyone in the NHL to get to the finish line. It also means no game can linger in players minds, and that bore out on the positive end for the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.
The Ducks allowed the opening goal for the fifth straight game out of the break, but Anaheim turned on the jets with another two-goal game from Cutter Gauthier and 42 saves from back-up goalie Ville Husso beat the New York Islanders, 5-1, and bounce back in the second half of a back-to-back at Honda Center.
Anaheim has now won six of its last seven games and nine of its last 10 home games with a 13-3-0 record in its last 16 games. The Ducks are 21-9-1 at home.
“We're super confident in our group,” Gauthier said, “and obviously, we didn't like how we played the other night against Colorado, and we're not gonna let things like that linger this late in the season. We're gonna go out and do the best we can to get rid of those ugly habits and build opportunity moving forward.”
The Ducks earned their fourth comeback victory in five games since the Olympic break and 18th on the season, second-most in the NHL.
Husso faced an early barrage in his first start since Jan. 26, but the 31-year-old Finn was sharp in Lukáš Dostál’s first night off since representing Czechia in the Olympics.
“It's a little new,” Husso said of playing behind a workhorse like Dostál. “Whenever you go out there, just try to give your best, and it's been a lot of fun being a part of this team, and especially watching Dosty day in, day out. The work ethic he has, and it's been helping me as well.”
Gauthier maintained his torrid scoring pace scoring for the third straight game, his second two-goal game in three games and six goals in five games since the break. The 22-year-old has netted eight goals in his last seven games overall.
“Thankfully they're going in,” Gauthier said. “I think the main thing with my offense is getting pucks to the net, creating opportunities, whether they're going in. If they're not (going in), hopefully creating some offense for my linemates. Recently they've been going in, which is nice.”
Beckett Sennecke put up a two-point night with an assist and his 20th goal of the season. Ryan Poehling scored his second goal in four games, and Frank Vatrano popped in an empty-netter in his first game since fracturing his shoulder on Dec. 27.
“Yesterday's game was a little rough, and just the way the guys bounced back,” Husso said. “They were skating. They were doing all the little things, and I think the scoreboard showed it.”
Anaheim (34-24-3, 71 points) kept pace with Pacific Division-leading Vegas (29-19-14, 71 points). The Ducks still have one game in hand on the Knights.
Edmonton (30-24-8, 68 points) is now three points back of Anaheim and four points off Vegas. Anaheim has one game in hand on the Oilers, as well.
Seattle (29-23-9, 67 points) fell to four points behind Anaheim in the second wild card and remained even on games played.
The Ducks next host Montreal and rookie sensation Ivan Demidov after Friday’s trade deadline, which hits at noon Pacific Time.
Cut to the Chase
There is no hotter stick in the NHL these days than second-year Duck Cutter Gauthier’s–and he’s not even part of the McDonald’s Canada mini-stick promotion.
Gauthier ripped the Ducks first two goals of the game with a power-play snipe to tie and a beautiful rush with Leo Carlsson to put Anaheim ahead. Beckett Sennecke scored to complete a sequence of three goals in 5:44 for a Ducks lead after 20 minutes.
“Cutter's got it going right now,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “He's got a hot stick, and that line's been feeling it, be it off the rush or on the power play. Some good motion, some good speed, his quickness when his releases has been there. He's had a real good stretch here.”
Wednesday was a night for milestones, and Gauthier’s recent rip has sent him past a few standout names in Ducks history.
Gauthier’s first goal of the game was his 30th of the season–joining Paul Kariya and Bobby Ryan as third Ducks player to hit the mark in a season before age 23–and 50th goal of his career.
The 22-year-old is the third fastest player that began his career with the franchise to hit 50 career goals as a Duck (143 games) again behind only Kariya (106 games) and Ryan (119 games).
Gauthier’s second goal was his 100th career point, which made him the fourth-fastest to the century mark in team history behind–you guessed it–Kariya (98 games), Ryan (126 games) and Trevor Zegras (135 games).
That goal also stood up as Gauthier’s ninth career game-winning goal, which tied him with five other Ducks for second-most before age 23 but well behind the leader Kariya (22).
At that point, Gauthier had scored the Ducks last five goals across the last three games–final two goals against Calgary on Sunday, the only goal against Colorado last night and the first two against New York tonight. Gauthier is the first player in franchise history to achieve the feat and just the fourth player in the last five seasons to do so.
The second goal came off a combination with Carlsson, who formed an electric pairing late last season. The two had been separated most of this season, but Gauthier, Carlsson and Chris Kreider have come together from the third period of the post-Olympic opener for eight goals in the last 13 periods of regulation hockey.
“Comfortable playing with Leo,” Gauthier said. “He's just such a special player, able to create so much off the rush and using his speed and be so elusive. I just have to match his speed and get it open for him, because I know he's got eyes on the back of his head and he can make plays pretty much anywhere.”
Carlsson’s assist brought him up to the 50-point plateau to match Gauthier (54 points) and Sennecke, who hit 50 points with an assist on Gauthier’s first tally. That marked just the second time in Ducks history the team had three 50-point scorers through 61 games played with the first in 1998-99 when Kariya, Teemu Selanne and Steve Rucchin hit those numbers in that short of time.
Ducks equalize with a power play goal of their own, and can this boy shoot it or what? Cutter Gauthier with his 30th goal of the season, 7th goal in 7 games. Assist to Beckett Sennecke in this rookie showdown.
— Zach Cavanagh (@ZachCav) March 5, 2026
1-1 in Anaheim. #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/Cr00NN0klr
Sennecke vs. Schaefer
Speaking of Beckett Sennecke, Wednesday marked the first of back-to-back Calder Trophy candidate showdowns with the Islanders’ No. 1 overall Matthew Schaefer rolling through. Rookie assists leader Ivan Demidov rolls in with Montreal on Friday.
Schaefer is tied with Sennecke for the rookie goals lead, but as a teenage blue-liner, his accomplishments in all situations and his team’s ice-time leader make him the favorite for the league’s top rookie.
However, the Ducks’ 20-year-old forward got the better of the Islanders 18-year-old defenseman in this round. Sennecke notched a goal and an assist, and the smooth-skating Schaefer led all skaters with 24:13 time-on-ice but was a minus-2.
"Well, (Schaefer's) gonna be special, and when I say special, maybe even more than special," Quenneville said. "Amazing player, versatility. We had some containment on them, some shifts out there tonight, that helped us. Beck's been dangerous each and every night as we're progressing through this year. Each and every night, he does some things that I say, 'This is a pretty amazing play he just made there.' At the same time, nice to see him finish. I think you're gonna hear and see a lot of those two guys throughout their careers."
Sennecke hit milestones of his own against the Islanders.
All of those marks Cutter Gauthier just set? Sennecke is well on his way to besting them.
Sennecke’s assist on Gauthier’s first goal was his 50th career point, which made him the fastest Ducks rookie to hit the milestone. His 61 games beat Bobby Ryan’s record of 69 games and made him the second-fastest to 50 career points overall behind only–one more time–Paul Kariya (58 games).
In this showdown with Schaefer, Sennecke became the first rookie in the NHL to hit 50 points this season, the first time a Duck has taken that title.
Sennecke is just the third rookie in team history with a 50-point season, and his 31 assists passed Cam Fowler for second-most by a Ducks rookie. Trevor Zegras holds the Ducks rookie assists mark with 38.
Sennecke’s goal was his 20th of the season, making him the second-fastest Ducks rookie to the mark in franchise history. Ryan has that mark at 42 games played.