Cutter Gauthier recorded his team-record second consecutive hat trick to help the visiting Anaheim Ducks earn a 5-4 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night.
Gauthier has eight goals in the past three games, including six on the power play, helping the Ducks go 10-for-12 with the man advantage during that span.
Gauthier, 22, is the first NHL player to record multiple power-play goals in three consecutive games. The only other player with back-to-back hat tricks this season was the Florida Panthers’ Brady Tkachuk.
Mikael Granlund had a goal and two assists, while Beckett Sennecke had four assists for the Ducks in the opener of a three-game trip through Canada. Leo Carlsson also scored, and Jackson LaCombe contributed two assists.
Laurent Brossoit made 19 saves in his second straight start for Anaheim, which is 3-1-1 in its past five games.
Jake DeBrusk scored twice, Liam Ohgren and Linus Karlsson also tallied, forward Elias Pettersson had two assists, and Kevin Lankinen made 17 saves for the Canucks, who are 1-12-1 in their past 14 games. Their only win during that span came in Anaheim on Oct. 27, when the Ducks blew a 5-2 third-period lead and lost 6-5 in overtime.
The Ducks took a 5-2 lead at 4:11 of the third period in the rematch when Gauthier completed his third NHL hat trick, scoring with a wrist shot from above the right hashmarks off a rush.
DeBrusk scored with a backhand from close range on a power play to cut the deficit to 5-3 at 5:30. He then scored on a deflection at 9:34 to pull Vancouver within one.
Early in the contest, Granlund scored from the left hashmarks off a feed from Sennecke on a power play to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead at 4:04 of the first period.
The Canucks were on a power play when Ohgren scored during a scramble in front of the crease to tie it 1-1 at 6:04.
Gauthier scored again on a power play, connecting on a one-timer from the left circle to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead at 17:07 of the opening period.
Carlsson scored on a short-handed 2-on-1 rush to make it 3-1 at 2:58 of the second period.
Karlsson waited out Brossoit before scoring from a sharp angle to cut the gap to 3-2 at 8:17.
The Ducks were back on a power play when Gauthier scored with another one-timer from the left circle to make it 4-2 at 18:25 of the second.
–Field Level Media
