The Anaheim Ducks defeated the Edmonton Oilers 5-4 at Rogers Place on Thursday, with Beckett Sennecke recording two goals and an assist, according to NHL.com. Anaheim built a 5-2 lead early in the third period before Edmonton scored twice late to make it a one-goal game.
Kasperi Kapanen started the Oilers' comeback with a power-play goal with 3:36 left in the third. Leon Draisaitl then brought Edmonton within one with 45 seconds remaining, converting a cross-crease pass from Connor McDavid past Laurent Brossoit's glove while Matt Tomkins was pulled for an extra attacker. The Oilers won the ensuing face-off but could not find an equalizer.
"We keep finding ways to leave teams in it a little bit in the past couple of games," Sennecke said, per NHL.com. "But a win's a win."
Why it matters
The result gives Anaheim (8-7-1) its third straight win and continues a scoring surge that has seen the Ducks reach at least five goals in six consecutive games — a first in franchise history, NHL.com reports. For Edmonton (11-3-3), the loss snaps a five-game point streak during which the Oilers went 3-0-2.
The game also extended two notable individual runs. McDavid finished with a goal and three assists, pushing his season-opening point streak to 17 games. Cutter Gauthier scored his ninth goal in his past four games for Anaheim.
Gauthier stays hot as Ducks build lead
Gauthier opened the scoring on a power play at 9:26 of the first period, taking a pass across the slot from Jackson LaCombe and beating Tomkins short side under the right arm. According to NHL.com, it was Gauthier's seventh power-play goal in four games, after he became the first player in Ducks history to score twice on the man-advantage in each of his previous three games.
Edmonton answered with a power-play goal of its own, Evan Bouchard tying it 1-1 with 19 seconds left in the period off a McDavid pass from behind the net. McDavid then put the Oilers ahead 2-1 while short-handed at 2:34 of the second, skating in alone against Nikita Nesterenko, taking a shot in the slot and batting his own rebound out of midair past Brossoit.
Pavel Mintyukov pulled Anaheim level at 3:37 of the second with a shot that went in off the stick of Oilers forward Mathieu Joseph, then scored again at 6:15 to put the Ducks ahead 3-2, cleaning up a rebound in close after a point-blank attempt by Judd Caulfield. Sennecke made it 4-2 with 38 seconds left in the period, lifting a cross-crease pass from Tristan Luneau over Tomkins' extended left pad.
"It was kind of a bit of an O-zone play there, and then someone got it to the net and I was just trying to slide it next door, and 'Lunes' made a great play and kind of shoveled it to the net and he put it on my tape," Sennecke said. "We're rolling hot right now. I think we all feel good and we're confident in our group now, so it's nice to kind of feel that way after the start we had."
Sennecke's power-play goal at 1:42 of the third, finishing a passing sequence with Gauthier and Leo Carlsson, made it 5-2 and proved to be the winner.
Edmonton's special teams and late push
Oilers coach Mike Babcock pointed to his penalty kill, which stopped six of Anaheim's eight power plays, as a factor that kept Edmonton in the game.
"I thought our penalty kill was excellent (6-for-8)," Babcock said. "It really set us up to win the game, to tell you the truth. It gave us a chance. And then we didn't look after it. They won both net fronts. They won our net front and their net front."
Gauthier described Edmonton's penalty kill as unlike anything Anaheim had faced this season, citing its pressure and lack of time allowed to set up.
McDavid said the Oilers believed they could recover even after falling behind by three.
"The battle level was high," McDavid said. "Just little mistakes here and there and they found a way to capitalize. We just came up a little short. We never feel like we are out of games. With our group, we feel like we can come back in any situation. We fell just a little bit short."
Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville said the finish resembled his team's recent games, including a 5-4 win at the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday and a 6-5 overtime loss to Vancouver on Oct. 27.
"Up 5-2, looked like they were going away, and then next thing you know they tie it up," Quenneville said. "So, we hung on there at the end, but I thought we had a really good third period going until they made it 5-3. But the guys worked hard and had a lot of positives."
Brossoit made 23 saves for Anaheim. Tomkins stopped 16 shots for Edmonton, which activated emergency backup Brett Epp for the first time because Tristan Jarry was out with an illness, NHL.com reports.
Among other notes from NHL.com: McDavid and Draisaitl combined on two goals, moving them past Alex Delvecchio and Gordie Howe for fourth on the NHL's list of duos to record a point on the same goal, with 561 such goals. Bouchard reached 30 points in 17 games, tying Bobby Orr for the second-fewest games needed by a defenseman to hit that mark in a season.
Anaheim will look to extend its winning streak and its run of five-goal games, while Edmonton tries to start a new point streak after seeing its five-game run end.
