Cutter Gauthier recorded his team-record second straight 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 in 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 Canadian trip. 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 two goals, 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 in close on a power play to cut it to 5-3 at 5:30, and he then scored with a deflection at 9:34 to slice Vancouver’s deficit to one.
Early in the contest, Granlund scored from the left hashmarks off a feed from Sennecke while 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 of the first.
Gauthier scored again on a power play, hitting the net with a one-timer from the left circle to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead at 17:07 of the opening frame.
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 of the second.
The Ducks were back on a power play when Gauthier scored with another well-placed one-timer from the left circle to make it 4-2 at 18:25 of the second.
