Cutter Gauthier and Beckett Sennecke each recorded a goal and an assist, and goaltender Lukas Dostal stopped 32 shots as the Anaheim Ducks defeated the New Jersey Devils 4-1 on Sunday night for their third consecutive victory.
Frank Vatrano and Chris Kreider also scored for Anaheim, which has now won five of its last six games to move into a first-place tie in the Pacific Division with Las Vegas and Edmonton. The Ducks’ 15 points through 11 games mark their best start since the 2014–15 season, fueling optimism for a team looking to end a seven-year playoff drought.
Jack Hughes scored the lone goal for New Jersey, and Jake Allen finished with 26 saves in the loss.
Anaheim jumped on the road-weary Devils early, scoring three times in the first 22 minutes and dominating play through two periods. The Ducks have now outscored their last two Eastern Conference opponents — Detroit and New Jersey — by a combined 9-3.
Sennecke opened the scoring just over a minute into the game, taking a feed from Gauthier, powering past defenseman Dennis Cholowski, and slipping a shot under Allen’s right arm for his second goal of the year. Vatrano added to the lead later in the first, and Gauthier extended it to 3-0 early in the second with a highlight-reel goal from a sharp angle, firing a wrist shot from just inside the right goal line under Allen’s left pad — his team-leading seventh goal of the season.
Hughes finally put the Devils on the board midway through the third, taking a perfect feed from Dawson Mercer on a two-on-one rush and beating Dostal to make it 3-1. But the Ducks weathered New Jersey’s late push, and Kreider sealed the win with an empty-net goal at 1:54 remaining.
Up Next:
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Devils: Return home to face the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.
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Ducks: Continue their homestand Tuesday against the Florida Panthers.
